Konoha no Tsurugi
by TitaniumWyvern
Summary: [Sword of Konoha]Naruto is a jinchuuriki who possesses the ultimate offense of wind. see as his progresses into the greatest asset of Konoha or it's cause of ruin. Pairing: NarutoxTayuyaxTemari [might develop into harem]
1. Prologue

**A.N.:** I'm doing another Naruto story, but I won't abandon my old project. Just wait for it!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

**Prologue: Discovery of a Power.**

The five year old Naruto was running from the mob of at least ten villagers who were pursuing him. All of them brandished some sort of weapons; pitchforks, sticks, swords, the list goes on to a broken glass bottle.

The five year old continued to run until he reached a dead end where he turned to face his tormentors and let the heaven above to decide his fate. The mob cracked a grin as they approached the blonde boy and began their assault. They beat him so bad, his eyes were swollen shut, and he lost two front teeth and a lot of blood.

'At least,' he thought, 'if I die I'll be free from the torture.' The thought, however didn't linger in his mind for long as he heard a voice calling him.

'**Weak,'** a voice from the back of his head told him. It was from a shrouded figure with no apparent face; only a pair of large crimson eyes. **'So, very weak,'** it continued.

"Who, who is it?" the boy asked fearfully.

'**Even with my gift, you are still so weak,'** it told him again.

By this time, Naruto was confused. Gift? What gift? He possessed nothing. Everything he obtained was only for a moment before someone else from the orphanage took it. Even his clothes were simply left out bright orange shirt and shorts.

"What gift? No body gives me anything!" he yelled poignantly.

'**Hmph. Even after all this time, you still haven't noticed? Then let me give you a last gift; a parting gift. Let's see what you'll do with it,'** the voice told him.

With that said, the dark figure whose voice rang into Naruto's head disappeared; returning the blonde haired boy to the living world.

When he opened his eyes, his pained grimace turned into a heartless smile as the injury his body sustained began healing at an insanely fast rate. Gaping wounds became scabs, scabs turned into slightly discolored skin, slash inflicted injury disappeared, burn marks turn into fresh skin.

After a short, yet powerful blast of chakra, the cerulean eyed boy promptly stood up and turned to look at his attackers which backed away. Naruto smiled and a sharp, strong wind blew.

Less than a moment later, an anguished cry was let out as a man lost his arms, a woman's arm got shredded, a teenager lost his legs, and another lost an ear.

The whiskered boy's 'sincere' smile widened as he let out another torrent of wind which shredded the rest. They lost limbs, ears, noses and fingers, making all twenty of them nothing less than disfigured people. They all were screaming in pain while Naruto looked at them with a mask of happiness.

"You all are too noisy, but look at the bright side, you now know the suffering that I went through."

Upon seeing the display of power, an ANBU member from the Root division appeared and knelt before Naruto could cause more damage to them.

The boy looked nonplussed by this and with his smile still in place; he asked, "Yes, ANBU-san?"

"Naruto-kun, I am here to take you to both Hokage-sama and Danzou-sama. Please comply and follow me," the cat-masked ANBU said.

The blond boy didn't respond, but nodded nonetheless.

Upon arrival, both the jinchuuriki and the ANBU were told to go inside where two men were waiting inside. One was an old man with a large hat bearing the 'hi' kanji. He wore a large white robe and was smoking. The other was a black haired man with a bandaged eye, wearing a black and white robe.

They were the Sandaime Hokage and the founder of the 'Ne' or Root division of ANBU, Danzou. Both stopped their conversation when the door opened. A cat masked ANBU and a blonde boy entered. Danzou motioned for the masked-nin to leave which he did immediately.

"Naruto-kun, this man is Danzou, the founder of the Root Division of ANBU," Sarutobi introduced.

"Are you the Uzumaki Naruto?" he asked.

Seeing that he had no losses in telling him, the boy did so. "Yes," he said.

"I have heard of your… conditions, so to speak. And also of the events that happened today," he continued.

"That is why it has come to my decision to ensign you to the Root division of ANBU," Danzou proclaimed.

The Hokage didn't disagree to the militaristic man as he said that. 'At least, he will have some one or several people who will care for him and treat him like he is human,' the Hokage thought.

Contrary to popular believe that Naruto is an idiot blonde who smiles when he got beaten up, he was in fact, quite a smart boy because he learnt everything from the source instead of books and the likes. One such knowledge was one of the jobs of the Ne Division of ANBU, eliminating the threats to Konoha.

He thought about the consequences of this offer. If he joined, he wouldn't have a childhood anymore because he would be trained to kill at an early age and their training would most likely turn the members into heartless killing machines.

On the other hand, if he decided to turn down the offer, he would have to go through his almost non-existent childhood and still be an easy target for the villagers. If he decided to go with it and joined, he would get fear from the villagers; another form of recognition, which he would do anything to receive.

"Do you have any rejections to this, jii-chan?" Naruto asked.

"No," the old man said solemnly.

"Ok then, I will join you, Danzou-san," the blue eyed boy said with a look of indifference on his face.

"Excellent. Your training regime shall start immediately," the one-eyed man said.

**A.N.:** prologue's done; next chapter will be about Naruto's training and first few years in ANBU. Review please...

I'll leave the pairing up to you; the choices are (Just put the number of your choice in your review):

1. Naruto x FemSasuke x Temari

2. Naruto x FemSasuke x Tayuya

3. Naruto x Tayuya x Temari

4. Naruto x FemSasuke x Temari x Tayuya


	2. Chapter 1

**A.N.:** Sooo, I got 5 reviews for the prologue chapter, the problem is… all of them are telling me the votes which will end when I finish the 2nd chapter, about one and a half months after this one; and none of them told me about what they thought about the story. So please, when you vote for the pairing, also tell me your opinions about the story.

Anyway, Naruto will be a perpetually smiling boy who got a sadistic streak because of his training in ANBU. He will be in the same team as the canon and will join them after the Nami no Kuni mission.

**Chapter 1: The Living Sword**

After Naruto's meeting with Danzou and Sarutobi, both men told him to get some rest and go to a specified address written in a piece of paper. The boy went to his room in the orphanage escorted by an ANBU member and slept where in his dreamscape, he heard the mysterious voice again.

'**The protector turned into the destroyer, the destroyer took the façade of a protector. In the end, none can hide their true color for eternity. But which is yours?' **it recited.

The blonde didn't answer because he didn't know the answer yet, but it will be unveiled when it will be; at least that's what he believed.

'**No answer, eh? Perhaps some time to think about it is in order. When you have the answer, boy… I will come to hear it,' **the voice said**, 'But for now, rest. Tomorrow will be a hard day.'**

By the time the voice disappeared, Naruto awoke feeling more refreshed than he had ever felt before. He flexed his arm and felt that it was more flexible that before.

The blonde boy went to the shower, bathed, and brushed his teeth before getting dressed and went to the address written on the paper.

When he reached the place, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was greeted by the same man he met yesterday, Danzou.

"You're earlier than expected, Naruto-kun," he said.

"Being early is better than late, Danzou-san," the blonde replied.

"Indeed, you are the exact opposite of Hatake Kakashi," the one eyed man muttered.

The Root's leader told Naruto to follow him to a clearing in the forest where many traps were scattered; land mines, shuriken throwing machines, barb wired fences, every single kind of trap and obstacle, you name it, it's there.

"This will be your training area," he spoke to the surprised Naruto, "after you gain the sufficient agility, skill, and speed."

"You shall train wearing these," Danzou said, pointing to a box filled with weights that said '10 pounds'.

Wordlessly, the boy took the weights and wore them.

"Now, run laps around the village until I tell you to stop."

Obediently he did so, running like a turtle due to the weights and became easy target for the scorning villagers of Konohagakure.

"How many laps do you think he'll be able to run before he collapsed?" the Sandaime Hokage asked.

"5 at most, 2 at least. This village is quite big for a child like him," came the reply, "But why did you let him go with Danzou-sama, Hokage-sama?"

"The Roots are the most efficient form of troop imaginable," the old man sighed, "but they are the most heartless. They don't care much about their peers as long as they do their job well."

"But, wouldn't letting him be in ANBU serve the same purpose?"

"It wouldn't, Kakashi-kun. As you know, in the seventy three assassination attempts done on Naruto, twelve were instigated by ANBU members, twenty four done by Jounin and Chuunin alike, and the rest were the villagers," he said, "Letting him live among the people who had made an attempt on his life wouldn't give him a sense of security and should that be done, he might unleash a greater power than he had exhibited before on the mob yesterday night."

"So, you're saying it's to prevent his insanity?" the cycloptic jounin asked.

"You can put it that way, but there's also another reason."

"What would that be?"

The Hokage choked on his words, uncertain of the reaction he might receive, but managed to say, "The boy may act as a liaison between me and Danzou, a spy if you will.

"Those who worked under Danzou were indoctrinated to be loyal to him, but Naruto yields to no one and always does things his way, at least that's the old him.

"There are also rumors that Danzou would try to obliterate Konoha. I need to ensure the truth about it, so that's why I'm doing this. You do understand, right?"

Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-cat ninja nodded solemnly. Although he didn't really like it, but it was for the village, so who was he to complain?

_Time skip, three years later._

Naruto's training went well and finished it right at the supposed time, three years flat and six hundred twenty pounds on each limb. His training was a walk in the park; a park in a country at war that's constantly bombarded, littered with land mines instead of grass, with gun turrets instead of bushes, and barb wire fences in the place of trees; don't forget the lake filled with numerous aquatic predators in it. All in all, it did show the expected result, a strong boy who commands wind and air at his disposal with a small yet growing capacity for telekinesis.

At the time he was done with his training, he received his primary mission, eliminate all threats, be it potential or concrete threats to Konoha. He started it off with a Kumo nuke-nin he was pursuing at the moment.

A large man wearing a jounin jacket and brown shorts was running from his pursuers, three Konoha ANBU wearing dog, cat, and fox masks. At first, he had the upper hand, but damn, those guys are quick.

As he ran, he was wondering how the hell did these freaks know what he was about to do, attempt to kidnap another Hyuuga. The red haired man spared a glance to his back and saw with his brown eyes that the trio was just about a yard away.

In panic, he pumped chakra to his legs and jumped quicker from tree branch to tree branch, but it still didn't seem enough to shake them off.

Then, he looked back again and saw that he was now three yards away from them. He smiled in victory before he saw an air disruption heading his way.

The wave of air sped towards the nuke-nin and he ducked in time before it severed his head. He tried to jump again but failed as he felt a warm sensation running down his right arm.

"I wouldn't look at it if I were you," the ANBU in fox mask said happily.

Ignoring the warning, the Kumo nin looked to his shoulder and tried to move it. Just as he moved it forwards, it fell off and traveled downwards to cold dirt.

He yelled in agony and rage as he glared at his three enemies. The shortest one wearing a fox mask stood the farthest, nearer to him was the one wearing a dog mask, and the nearest to the tormented ninja was the cat masked one, approximately one and a half yards away.

Before he could blurt out any obscenities at his adversaries, another air disruption appeared and severed his other arm, making him yell out more and this time, he didn't hold back and threw every curses he had, cursed their parents, their villages, and spewed empty threats.

"Truly, a dying dog whimpers the loudest," the fox masked ANBU said as he shook his head.

Finally, another burst of wind shot up and severed his head, silencing the nukenin forever.

"We have returned, Hokage-sama," the three chorused from their position, kneeling down in front of the militaristic man.

"Good work, you three, do you have it?" the old man asked them.

"Of course," they said as each set down a black bag from their backs.

The one in fox mask opened his first, showing a long black metal staff. The cat masked one opened his next, showing a black wooden box, inside it were five scrolls neatly set side by side. The dog mask wearing nin opened his sack last, where a sack of the recently killed Kumogakure nukenin.

"Good job, very good," their leader commented, "You may keep the weapon, Naruto-kun."

"Arigato gozaimasu, Hokage-sama," came the reply.

"Now, you may leave," he continued, "Now, for you two, Yamato-kun, Kakashi-kun; what do you think of his skills?"

"They are one of the best I've ever seen. His efficiency in the battle field is unmatched," Yamato replied.

"There is only one drawback to that, Hokage-sama," Kakashi continued, in which his black haired counterpart nodded, "He has become… in a way, insane. Everytime I see him, his smile never faltered and both his ruthlessness and efficience is more than inhuman. It's like he's a machine now."

"I see. Very well then, both of you are dismissed," the Hokage said somberly. 'Arashi would be very irritated if he found out.'

**A.N.:** the poll is still going:

1. Naruto x FemSasuke x Temari

2. Naruto x FemSasuke x Tayuya

3. Naruto x Tayuya x Temari

4.Naruto x FemSasuke x Tayuya x Temari

Btw, the results are:

#1: 0

#2: 0

#3: 4

#4: 1


	3. Chapter 2

**A.N.: I've rewritten some parts of the story. parts, which in my opinion lack several things. i hope this editted version is better.**

**Chapter 2: Messenger**

Naruto went back to his apartment room in the Root ANBU complex and slowly set down his cloak and mask on the table, his newfound weapon on the wall.

He walked to the bathroom and inspected his own reflection on the mirror. His two front teeth that were missing for a full minute those three years before on the day he obtained his powers had grown back, he realized. His three whisker marks that were on his cheeks had deepened, making him look more feral than before. The fact that his canines had grown sharper didn't help much either.

Then, he took a bath with freezing cold water and dried off by the time he was done. The boy walked to his table by his bed and saw a letter of summons from Danzou. Carelessly, he ripped it open and read the letter. It said that he was to report to Danzou about his mission.

Wordlessly, the boy crumpled the paper and threw it upwards, then used his wind blades to shred it. Tired and spent, he went to his bed to get some well deserved rest.

xxxx

_The next day_

"Report," Danzou said.

"Hai. The nukenin we were ordered to pursue and terminate turned out to be a minimal threat. He brought several items that may need to be thoroughly examined," Naruto said as he knelt down.

"Elaborate. What items? What value might it hold?"

"A box of scrolls which is now at Hokage-sama's hand and this," the boy replied as he pulled out the staff.

It was a finely crafted weapon, made from metal and bore no engravings or marks whatsoever. Danzou examined the weapon and after a while filed it as unimportant and told Naruto to keep it as his own weapon, to which the blond was grateful. The box of scrolls that was in the Hokage's hands might need some scrutiny, but if it was trusted to a weak soldier, surely it wasn't that important?

Then the one armed man led Naruto to the training area and told him to stand exactly 2 metres away from a wooden log. Danzou then told the jinchuuriki to cleave it. Without a second wasted, he let a wind blade fly and the log was cut in two. A clean, flawless cut that couldn't be achieved with a mere katana. After nodding his approval, Danzou led Naruto to a training log and told him to destroy it.

Naruto focused his chakra on the object as it glew blue and slowly rise from the ground and reached three feet above the ground. The jinchuuriki then clutched his fist and the log was crushed into splinters.

The task was taxing for the young blond and he had already showed signs of exhaustion by the time he did it the second time. The militaristic man beside him gave Naruto an envelope after his breath stabilized.

"Inside this is the specification of your next mission," he said.

Without a word, Naruto took the envelope politely and opened it. As he read, Danzou told him, "The mission will commence in four days. Meanwhile, use the available time to rest and recuperate."

When Naruto went out the complex, it was already midday to noon. Sighing in irritation, the blond took a hasty pace to a weapon shop to restock his soldier pills, shuriken, kunai, and exploding tags.

The shop was a special shop that provided weaponry for every Shinobi of every rank and stature. The store wasn't decorated with anything other than weapons shuriken and kunai adorned the left side of the wall, while swords and fuuma shuriken adorned the right. On the front, behind the clerk's desk was a glass display where every kind of weapon imaginable was hung.

In a seemingly practised routine, the eight year old walked straight to the clerk's desk without bothering to look at the other items and called, "I need fifty shurikens, forty kunais, a pack of exploding tags, and a full bottle of soldier pills."

The clerk, much to his surprise was a nine year old brunette with her hair tied in two buns on her head. She turned to meet the buyer only to see a smiling eight year old boy who was only 120 centimeters tall. "I'm sorry, but we only sell our gear to full fledged shinobi, not to children," she said, not taking the ANBU member seriously.

"I am aware of that miss, how much will that order cost me?" Naruto said, not caring about her comment.

"Now look here,…" she said before her father came in from the side door which read "Staff only."

"Tenten, that's not polite to say to a customer," the man said. He was a moderately sized man wearing a dark brown shirt under his thick blacksmith apron with dark brown hair and a proud look on his face. The man had strong arms, which its power he displayed by lifting a heavy box filled with training weights easily on one arm.

"But father, this kid wanted to buy shuriken and kunai, tell him it's dangerous to play around with them!"

"Ah, don't worry about this one. Just get to the back and check on your mother, okay?"

The girl sighed dejectedly but still did what her father told her to. Once she was out of earshot, the blacksmith turned to his blond customer, "So, Uzumaki-san, what can I do for you?"

"Like I said to your daughter, Kuzushi-san. Fifty shuriken, forty kunai, a pack of exploding tags, and a full bottle of soldier pills."

"Uh huh," he said as he noted down the necessary items, "Anything else?"

"I need to have this weapon appraised," Naruto told him as he took out the black staff.

Kuzushi Tenzen took the staff and examined it thoroughly. After discerning its material, he whistled and turned to the ANBU member, "This is one good piece you got. Amahagane is rare and this one is made entirely from it."

"Amahagane?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Yes, the best material to make weapons or armors. They are extremely durable, flexible, and light. Moreover, you can put a 'defense mechanism' on it or imbue it with elemental chakra and they're not that hard to customize," the smithmaster said.

"Can you do them in three days?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, but they will cost you more," Kuzushi replied.

"No matter. Have it done when I return then."

xxxx

Naruto's four days vacation, if you can call it that, was in its third day and he walked to the Kuzushi family weapon shop to retrieve his customized staff.

He opened the door to the store and saw the same girl as before. "Ah, it's you again. Sorry I was impolite before," she said as she bowed apologetically.

"It's nothing, miss. Where can I find your father?"

"Oh, right this way."

Tenten led the blond through the staff door after she closed the store for the day. She told him to go to the basement where her father was putting some finishing touches on the staff.

He did as he was told and saw the six feet weapon engraved with hundreds of kanji that circled it. The smooth shaft turned into a bamboo like structure as it looked like it had six segments. Both segments on each end were slightly thicker than the rest, almost invisible to the untrained eye. On the segments' ends were rings and on each tip of the weapon, small, almost flat protrusions made by three smaller rings were placed.

Tenzen was chanting a spell as the crimson kanji burned and after waiting for a full minute, the ritual was finished with a blinding flash of light. Then, seeing that his customer was there, he told the boy to try it.

The perpetually smiling boy took it and tried several swings and stabs, then found that it was perfect. In an act of curiosity, he grasped each end and pulled. To his surprise, the staff split into a pair of kali sticks. (Just so you know, I prefer to call them 'Dog Beating Sticks', it's a common weapon in Hong Kong's Wuxia films.)

Satisfied with the result, Naruto took out his wallet and gave its contents to Tenzen who took it with appriciation.

"One last thing," he said, "Show me your gloves."

Obediently, Naruto did so and in a swift movement, Tenzen wrote kanjis written in a sentrifugal spiral and when he was done, he promptly slapped both of them and sent chakra to the spiral.

"There, now you can store that in your gloves," Tenzen said as he crossed his arms.

Wordlessly, the jinchuuriki gave several extra ryou as his token of appreciation and left the place to pack for his mission.

"Heh, that guy is never one for words," the brown haired man said.

"Father, I've been meaning to ask this, who is he?" his daughter asked.

"That guy, daughter, is a living weapon," the blacksmith said as he hung his head down and shook it, "It's a pity that a boy's gotta be one, but at least he gives people like us a good living."

Tenten looked at her smiling father's face and asked again, "If he's a living weapon, can he be wielded?"

"Yup, but you have to be real strong if you want to."

"So, if I want to wield him, I have to be strong enough?"

"In a sense, yeah."

"All right, I'll be strong enough to wield this living weapon."

'Heh, kids these days.'

xxxx

"Your mission is to deliver this message to an associate of mine. He is currently in Rice country and also brought several bodyguards," the letter read, "Confirm the letter's delivery. When you're done reading this, burn it."

The blond did so and looked at photo of the person he was supposed to deliver the letter to. He was a lean man with purple eye liner that made him look feminine. He had long black hair and an aura of malice around him.

'Mission commencing in T minus five, four, three, two, one, begin,' the blond mentally counted as he jumped from the tall gate of Konohagakure no Sato to the black night that greeted him with moonlight and he disappeared in a resounding woosh.

xxxx

_Rice Country border_

Naruto sniffed the air and mentally counted the number of his enemies as he ran on the road, 'Hmm, four, no… five; four males, one female. But it's weird; it's as if two smells are combined into one. Safe to say, there are six. Threat estimation: medium-high.'

Suddenly, the blond stopped to a halt and brought forth his twin sticks and put up a defensive stance after he combined them into a long pole. "Please show yourselves. I tire of this cat and mouse game," the jinchuuriki said with a smile plastered on his face, though no one would be able to see it because of the porcelain mask hiding his face.

Without warning, a light blue haired boy rushed to him, throwing a fist. The blond dodged sideways and slammed his staff to the boy's sternum, sending him to the air where he recovered and threw five kunais to the ANBU member.

Naruto blocked each projectile and brought his staff down, attempting to break the blue haired boy's collar bone, but the attack missed as he dodged to the left. From its position, only several inches above the ground, the weapon changed its direction and met the assailant's knee, breaking it and rendering him disabled for a while. But one thing for sure, he lost this fight.

"Talk, and I'll let you live," Naruto said calmly to the blue haired boy as he approached and pressed the tip of his staff to his prey's neck.

"Heh, how about… DIE!" he yelled.

Immediately, dozens of arrows soared through the air and would've caught the jinchuuriki too if he hadn't used a kawarimi no jutsu with a kage bunshin he had so cautiously prepared.

The blue haired boy's comrade showed up. They were a six armed boy with black hair and a smug look, a red haired girl who wore a cap, and a big boy with orange Mohawk.

"Damn, you two headed prick. You couldn't even take out a smiling psycho with a dildo for a weapon?" the girl said, ignoring the big boy's comment about girls shouldn't be rude.

"Yeah? I'd like to see you try, Tayuya," he said. And indeed, he did have two heads; a fact that Konoha's living weapon didn't notice until now.

"Oh joy, three more," Naruto said, "Guess I'll have more to play with then."

The blond broke the long staff into two shorter ones and twirled them around, flexing his wrists, and cracked his neck as he sized up his opponents.

Three arrows flew to his direction and Naruto blocked it with his stick and dashed forward to disable the six armed boy. Before he was even half way there, a boulder the size of a table flew to his head and the jinchuuriki split it in two with a wind blade without breaking his stride.

The girl of the group, Tayuya summoned two more ogres and they attacked Naruto relentlessly. He was calm until one of them caught him off guard and struck his abdomen. Naruto recovered mid-air and sent five wind blades to destroy the summoned fiends.

Just as he brought one of his sticks down to the six armed Kidoumaru's head, a bladed staff came and intercepted his blow. Then, with his still smiling face, he turned to the newcomer, "Not bad, let's see how you fight one-on-one."

Acknowledging the challenge, he told the rest of the group to stand down and whipped up his bone-made weapon.

The two stick users set down on their own stances, Kimimaro's solid form and Naruto's relaxed form. Then, as a thunder flashed before them, they charged.

Kimimaro swiped his stick down, only to be blocked by Naruto's. Next, he stabbed his other staff and the blond parried then followed with a roundhouse kick to the head. The pale boy ducked under the kick and delivered a bone spike-gauntleted fist to Naruto's stomach.

The punch was blocked by the jinchuuriki's standard-issued ANBU armor which was busted by then. Naruto jumped back two feet away and launched his Fuuken (Wind Sword) to Kimimaro who shot several finger bullets. Needless to say, the bullets were cut in two and the attack continued to make a large wound on Kimimaro's chest.

Seeing the clear defeat of their 'comrade', the Sound Four sent attacks of their own. Kidoumaru's continuous arrow barrage, Jiroubou's rain of boulders and Tayuya's sound wave.

All the attacks, however was in vain as the boy formed a protective barrier of red aura that rendered each attack useless. "Now, the fight begins," the smiling boy said with a deeper voice to the recovering Kimimaro, "Please survive this, because if you don't I will be very pissed."

Naruto charged and swung his short staves to the boy's short spear and broke them. Before the pale boy could make any recovery, a knife kick met his sternum and sent him propelled back.

Struggling to get back up, he used another bone spear he made from his arm bone as a crutch and stood up wobbly. He looked to the side and saw that all of his colleagues were frozen in fear. The six armed boy fought his fear and formed an arrow, placed it on his bow, pulled the string, and let it fly. The arrow sailed in the air for some time and dissolved two inches from the intended target.

"Not bad, but still I'm pissed," Naruto said, ignoring the last attack with a smile that made his now crimson eyes squinty. His body exuded such an evil aura that they couldn't move, no matter how hard they try(do note that they are only about nine at the time and they'll receive their cursed seal soon enough). Suddenly, a tail of chakra formed on his tail bone and it rushed to the pale boy's chest, where his lungs were supposed to be.

As the tail made contact with the lean white haired boy, it covered him in red chakra and he began coughing up blood.

The blond laughed all the while; a laughter that could freeze one's blood and gave them nightmares for life. His hilarity was cut short as a man's voice called to the fighters on the road, "Seize this foolishness!"

"Are you the one whom I must deliver this letter to?" Naruto asked to the new arrival after stopping his chakra attack and made the chakra armor dissipate, ignoring the man's perfect similarity to man in the picture.

"I am Orochimaru. I presume you are the one Danzou sent as a messenger?" the black haired man enquired.

"Yes. Are they your underlings?" the ANBU asked.

"Yes. I apologize for their rudeness. They were supposed to keep intruders out and with that Konoha hitai-ate, they deemed you as a threat," he reasoned.

"I see. I too apologize for my aggression," Naruto said, turning to the five who were still frozen in fear, "Orochimaru-sama, may I try to heal them?"

"Please, do so."

Without further orders, he walked to the coughing boy on the ground and put his palm on the older boy's chest where a burn mark emerged and his still bleeding wound. In less than a second, he began to stabilize and the burn mark vanished, but he turned to unconsciousness.

Then came the blue haired guy he fought earlier's turn. He cracked the broken knee back on place, sandwiched them between styptics and bandaged them before using a healing jutsu on it. The pain induced from re-setting the knee alone broke him out of his reverie.

The big boy and the six armed one were panting in exhaustion due to chakra exhaustion and the massive killing intent they felt, so Naruto plopped a soldier pill to their mouths and slapped them. They recovered immediately and looked at the boy in fear, which he smiled in response, though they couldn't see it because of his mask.

At last, came the girl's turn. She suffered from chakra exhaustion too after using the genjutsu in a prolonged period and summoning the ogres. Doing the drill, he threw a soldier pill to her mouth and contemplated what to do next because hitting a girl who wasn't a threat, whether potential or real was against his conscience. So, he knelt down in front of her, took off his porcelain mask, showing his lean, whiskered face, and without warning kissed her on the lips for three full second before she yelled "Pervert!" out loud, tried to slap him and got another kiss instead.

xxxx

The seven people entered a cave about half an hour walk from their previous position. The cave was carved and shaped into a huge complex that only had one problem, dripping water from the stalactites.

As they walked, Tayuya kept cursing the smiling blond while maintaining a blush on her face. Jiroubou, the big child continuously reprimanded her about her use of words. Kidoumaru, the six armed one continued snickering just like his blue haired, two headed friend, Sakon whom Naruto supported as a form of an apology. The white haired Kimimaro was carried on a stretcher to see one of Orochimaru's subordinate, Kabuto.

At last, they reached Orochimaru's office, a chamber with obsidian double doors with white borders. They had several carvings that shaped a snake fighting a dragon on a mountain peak. Both creatures' eyes were from ruby and garnet, their body and the background however was made of pure obsidian.

"You can get in on your own, right?" Kidoumaru asked.

Naruto nodded and asked Sakon if he could walk on his own, which he answered with a 'yes' and left with his comrades to where they entered.

The blond opened the doors and saw the serpent Sannin there reading the letter. His face was crunched up in concentration and was sitting without ease.

After the door slammed shut, the serpentine man turned to see that the messenger was there, standing stiff before he knelt down and waited for Orochimaru's response.

"Ah, sorry I didn't notice you there. I suppose you wanted to hear my response for Danzou's letter?" he asked.

"Hai, Orochimaru-sama."

"My response would be yes to every condition he mentioned. This letter holds my official response for him," he told the ANBU member.

"On behalf of Danzou-sama, I thank you deeply, Orochimaru-sama," he said.

"Not at all. It is nothing," the serpentine man said.

Naruto exited the chamber and set his mask back, while inside Orochimaru sat on his chair and placed his palm to his forehead.

Unbeknownst to each other, the two grinning people had the same thought on their minds, 'The old fool doesn't know he's being used in this agreement.'

The blond boy went past the netire compound in ten minutes and by the time he reached the exit, Orochimaru had given the Sound Four (excluding Kimimaro) a cursed seal.

A.N.: there it is, hope you like it. Review please.


	4. Chapter 3

To HolyKnight5: i editted several things in it, maybe you didn't notice.

To cursed chaos kitsune Kyuusune: thank you very much for your jutsu library, i'll make sure to use it in the next chapter.

A.N.: Do any of you have an idea for a very evil prank?

**Chapter 3: The Agreement**

After the mission to Orochimaru, Naruto reported the results and the response to Danzou who read the letter thoughtfully and told the jinchuuriki to get some vacation until further notice.

Wordlessly, the blond got up from his kneeling position and went out the door to a ramen shop, Ichiraku Ramen.

The stand that was near the Yamanaka family's flower shop was a great place for gathering information and dining. It just so happened that many shinobi's ate there and the chef and his daughter were bound to hear something; rumors, news, even something the council tried to cover up. One example of such was the rumors of the Uchiha clan massacre; some said Itachi was controlled by a greater force, others said that it wasn't Itachi, but someone posing as him, while the not too sympathetic others said that Itachi had planned this all along.

"Give me the usual, Teuchi-san," Naruto told the chef after he took a seat near the counter.

"Sure, Naruto-kun," the ramen chef answered.

While waiting for his ramen to cook, he held out his index finger horizontally as a sparrow flew down and landed on it. He stroke the bird affectionately with the other index finger before Ichiraku-san called him and the bird flew off, "Here you are, Naruto-kun."

Muttering a silent 'Thank you', the veteran ninja ate in silence as his other ten bowls were being cooked.

Just as he almost finished his eleventh bowl, the ramen chef's daughter, Ayame showed up and regarded him with a friendly smile as she secretly slipped a slip of paper to Naruto.

He nodded his thanks and began a chit-chat with them and left exactly one hour after he left, 1 P.M.

Xxxx

Once inside his humble abode, he received a letter on his night table, 'Bingo book updated. All active shinobi ranked chuunin and above are to report to the Hokage immediately.'

Naruto wondered, what makes a bingo book update so important that everyone must report to the Hokage? Though the ninja world is a very dynamic place, there wouldn't be too many changes in the bingo book. Usually five more are added and three would be crossed out. Every nuke-nin had their own businesses and rarely band together.

'Maybe there's another addition from Konoha. The old man's sensitive about this,' Naruto thought.

Trying to look acceptable in front of the Hokage, he took of his torn cloak and wore a fresh one before walking out in a leisurely manner in the streets of Konoha while putting on his mask.

Xxxx

_In the Hokage Tower_

"I thank all of you who are gathered here under such short notice," Sarutobi began. "Recently, due to several incidents, the number of nukenin from the five elemental countries have increased substantially.

"One of the additions is Konoha's Uchiha Itachi."

This caused several gasps from shinobis who weren't in Konoha when the Uchiha massacre occurred, while those who already knew kept their mouths shut and looked very disheartened about the tragedy.

"It is known that he has joined a group of S-class nukenin known as Akatsuki," he continued.

At the mention of 'S-class nukenin', Naruto only had one thought on his mind, 'A worthy challenge'. His smile was hidden by his mask, but it didn't go unnoticed by several people who knew his personality; namely the Sandaime Hokage, Yamato, Hatake Kakashi, and several others from ANBU.

The announcement was finished in ten minutes and the old man told everyone to get their new copies of the Bingo book on the 'mission desk'. As every ninja's filed out of the room, Naruto was stopped by the Hokage who asked him, "Naruto-kun, where does your loyalty lie?"

Without turning to face the old man, he answered, "My loyalty lies with Konoha. I shall make sure the village prospers and its continuation guaranteed; with every means necessary."

"One more thing before you go," Sarutobi said, "What is Danzou planning to do by associating himself to my former student, Orochimaru?"

Surprised at the question, Naruto turned to look at the old man who continued, "Don't forget that I am the Hokage. I have my ways to find out about the things that are going on in this village."

"I have no idea," the blond admitted, "I do believe it has something to do with his long term goal, making Konoha the strongest village in the world."

"The strongest, eh? And how does he plan to do this… long term goal?" the Hokage asked again.

"By any means necessary, even if it includes the death of several people in this village," Naruto answered, "Now then, Hokage-sama, by your leave."

Then, the living weapon left the building. It was several moments after the door closed that the Hokage realized a piece of paper fying inside the room.

Curious, he picked it up and much to his amusement, words flared on it and he read, 'By the time Danzou-sama sees the village as 'weak', he will dispose of the current leader and put himself in charge. Watch yourself, Hokage-sama.'

Xxxx

_Two months later_

Another mission was given to Naruto. This time, it's assassination again. Briefly he wondered who will accompany him in this mission, since it wasn't a 'Ne only business' where he had to go solo, but it was a joint mission of Danzou-Orochimaru faction.

He approached the rendezvous point, a small village on the way to Kirigakure and saw an unexpected face; the scowling red head with colorful language named Tayuya.

"You're late, fucker," she cursed. Yet, to her irritation, the blond didn't respond or retaliate, he just took off his mask and showed his smiling face. Oh, how she wanted to wipe that smile off his face. "Let's just go and get this shit done with."

They ran to the village's exit, heading towards their destination, a bandit camp situated in the shady parts of Kirigakure no Sato.

"Do you understand the situation?" Tayuya asked.

"Yes, a group of bandits has appeared here. Destroy them because they are a threat, spare noone. Correct?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah and don't fuck this up, got it?" the red head said. The blond didn't say anything but nodded. The two waited till midnight and suppressed their chakra to make sure they wouldn't be noticed, and then launched their attacks from the same spot.

Mentally, Naruto counted his enemies, 'Approximately there are fifty genin-level, ten chuunin-level, and at most three jounin-level. They must be the leaders.'

The duo charged forward, beginning their attacks with assassination to make the kills as smooth as possible. Naruto sliced the throat of a sentry and Tayuya used her flute as a blow gun to kill another; its dart lacquered with the most potent poison known in Otogakure.

Then, they dragged the bodies behind a tent and went their separate ways.

Xxxx

_With Naruto_

The blond killer wall-hugged a tent and looked out, finding a group of four bandits talking and playing cards. Even though he had suppressed his chakra signatures, using the Fuuken would be dangerous for him because that jutsu used quite a large amount of chakra and would turn him into a flashing beacon in the dark for the three jounin-level bandit.

Deciding to minimalize visibilty, he refrained himself to using his non-chakra using attacks. Besides, it was more challenging that way.

Naruto took out a kunai and threw it. The blade embedded itself in one of the bandit's head. As the others made an audible gasp of surprise, he dashed towards them. When he approached one bandit, he kneed the old man in the stomach. The attack effectively pushed his diaphragm and also pushed his ribcage upwards; as a result, his ribs broke and pierced his internal organs. The jinchuuriki broke the man's neck and kicked another bandit on the chin before crushing the bandit's windpipe.

As the last of the group was about to run towards the signal bell, Naruto threw a kunai and it pierced his forehead. Turning to the last of the alive bandits, he broke the man's spine in a very uncomfortable manner by getting behind him, almost tripping him to his back, and kneed him hard on the spine, his hand hit the bandit's neck; resulting the man's body to shape like an arc, a very sharp one at that. Almost like an upside down V.

Xxxx

_With Tayuya_

The west side of the camp she was in was more scarcely guarded than the east, where Naruto was. She looked around and saw around three patrols. Each of them was separated by at least thirty feet. Thinking of the best course of action, she put another dart into her flute and shot it to the one closest to her.

The dart struck the intended target and the man just fell down lifelessly as the very potent and lethal poison worked its way inside his system. Hearing the dull 'thud', his partners approached him and nudged the man with their spear's blunt end. As they prodded for several seconds, she reloaded and shot two more.

She tried locating the command tent and after she saw the largest one, the red head immediately decided that the tent was what she was looking for.

Xxxx

Tayuya ripped a small hole on the side of the tent and peered inside. What she saw brought a small smile to her ruby lips. The tent was packed with the remaining bandits. Now, the mission would be finished early if she just blew the place up. Something she would do if her crazy partner didn't just charge in after putting his mask inside his gear bag, took out his weapons, smiled, and started attacking.

Normally, the foul mouthed girl would really love to blow this person up, after all he did piss her off, really pissed her off. If only her boss didn't say anything about this matter.

Xxxx

_Flashback_

"Tayuya, in this mission your partner will be from another village. And whatever you do, do not inflict damage on him or infuriate him," Orochimaru ordered.

"Hai, Orochimaru-sama," the red head bowed and exited the dark chamber to her own room to get ready.

Xxxx

"Enjoying the sight?" a voice beside her asked.

Startled, she spun turned to the owner of the voice and met Naruto, obviously, the blond used a bunshin to wreak havoc inside the tent as everyone inside were screaming and shouting.

"What the fuck? Don't fucking scare me you piece of shit! And what the hell is your bunshin doing? Can't you just blow this whole joint up?" Tayuya asked in a high whisper.

"Because that's not our real target. I will get back there to play later. Now, we have a bigger fish to fry," the blond said.

Confused, the girl followed the ANBU after confirming that it was him, not some high-level bandit in a henge or a genjutsu.

He ran towards a small tent that looked just like any other tents near the cloth wall used as the base's limits.

"Okay, we're here, now what?" the foul mouthed girl asked.

"Lean closer and tell me what you hear," Naruto said as he took off his mask (his bunshin earlier was the one who lost his mask, not the original).

"Our target will be the small villages supplying Konohagakure with metal ores and stones. The other target will be this spot here. Apparently one particular Orochimaru had built a base of operations there. It's a cave, so if we just throw all our houroku (hand thrown old style bomb), it's bound to be blast to shit in no time. Lately…" she said, copying the leader's words and almost failing to stifle a roar of outrage.

"Okay, that's enough. Let's get in then."

Once inside, the bandit's leaders were surprisingly pretty decent looking people, with tidy shirt and jacket, newly pressed pants and one with a crossed Kumo hitai-ate. The other men in the room, obviously his underlings had the hitai-ate of Iwagakure and Kusagakure.

"Genbo Okuda of Kumogakure (Naruto turned to the black haired man in white), Ishiki Ken of Iwagakure (the brown haired man in black), and Tojo Roumaru of Kusagakure (the green haired man wearing blue). You all are hereby sentenced to death under the charge of being a threat to Konohagakure."

The three turned to the newcomers, a blond boy with whiskered face, blue eyes and wearing ANBU cloak and a pair of sharp clawed metal gloves and a red haired girl wearing a tan shirt with the yin-yang symbol on the cloth in front of her, a purple rope sash, black shorts that just reached past her knees, and a blue cap.

These children, in their eyes couldn't be older than eleven, yet they were threatening the veteran jounin's. This had got to be a joke. The three chuckled lightly and finally burst out laughing. Said action triggered Tayuya's anger and she took out her flute before finally slamming the steel object to Roumaru's jaw.

The attack had the desired effect; the green haired man held his jaw as it broke under the crushing force. He lay sprawled on the ground while screaming because of the terrible pain he was feeling.

Seeing their colleague in danger, they took out their weapons, Okuda's claws and Ken's greatsword.

As one they charged at the red haired girl. Tayuya turned towards her targets and played her flute. Instantly the scenery around them changed into a terrifying bone yard and they were restrained with thousands of spine shards.

In the real world, the two jounin's scream filled the air. They were put in such great pain from the genjutsu and couldn't really break free because they really were bound with something, a chain, to be precise that her partner used.

Seeing their inability to retaliate, she changed her tunes and summoned forth two ogres. The white one brought a giant wooden club, while the red one brandished a spiked metal club.

The summoned creatures attacked and managed to wound the two men. It was a pity that because maintaining a genjutsu and summoning creatures like what Tayuya was doing was very taxing and soon she lost control and collapsed. The ogres disappeared in a puff of smoke and her genjutsu disippated.

Once the smoke cleared, there stood the three bandit leaders, Okuda sported several large bruises, Ken had many small ones, and Roumaru had repaired his jaw with a healing jutsu he had.

Truly, the three were worthy to be jounin's. They stood there as rigid as a rock, their hands continuously moved over their injuries as they healed very quickly; obviously using healing jutsu.

Roumaru took out his sabre and looked at the fallen Tayuya with great hatred. "I'm gonna kill this bitch for breaking my jaw," he said; ignoring the quickly approaching Naruto who had taken out his six feet bo (staff).

With a heave, he brought his sword down to behead the girl. But before the sword could travel half way, it was blocked with the blond ANBU's metal weapon. Naruto then brought the other end to the Kusa-nin, but he ducked under the weapon and did a leg sweep and almost tripped the jinchuuriki.

Naruto jumped up, flipped mid air, and introduced his heel to the green haired man's forehead. The attack would hit if Roumaru hadn't leapt back to join his colleagues. The force of the axe kick was enough to break through rocks and would have crushed Roumaru's head if he hadn't dodged.

In an instant, the blond boy scooped his red haired partner in his arms, carrying her bridal style and laid her down gently on the ground.

"My, my, so impolite," Naruto said as if he was talking to a child, "trying to attack a defenseless lady? That's not very gentleman-like, is it? Or maybe you did it because you have nothing underneath."

Simultaneously, the three jounin rank ex-shinobi took out their projectiles and threw it at the boy, while Naruto shot out the exact same amount of Fuuken the size of a shuriken to destroy each and every single one of the projectiles.

The three bandits rushed to the boy and swung their weapons at him. He blocked Roumaru's straight sword and Ken's giant sword. While Okuda jumped on his comrade's back and leapt at the weapon locked Naruto.

Naruto used his chakra to make the weapons stick to each other and he pulled himself up to meet with the ex-Kumogakure nin. He then flipped, lashed out his foot, and kicked Okuda on the face before releasing his chakra and swiped the other two on the shoulder blades.

This gave the desired effect of them walking wobbly forward and clutched their shoulder blades and face. Angered at being toyed with this boy, they created dozens of bunshin's from their villages and threw their shuriken, kunai, and senbon needles as several bunshin's also threw their weapons.

Seeing no way out, the blond boy tried a trick he had been thinking of for the last few weeks, he created several small tornadoes that shot his wind blades like a gun turret would shoot bullets. Smoke filled the area and blood covered the ground as all three jounin's were dismembered and mutilated.

As the smoke and occasional blood fountain cleared, there lay the shredded bodies of three jounin level bandits. Coincidentally, this was also the time when Tayuya woke up. She saw the crazed look of her partner as he savored the blood that covered his head and licked the occasional blood drop that reached his lips.

Too shocked to say anything, she just looked as the blond scavanged the bodies of the dead men and took their weapons without a second thought. When he got back to her, he asked her as he showed a marvelous weapon, "Do you want to take the claws or the others?"

The girl looked at the blood stained weapon and the gore that caked it, but took it anyway. Then she turned to the pile of bodies and played her flute. The tune had a soothing touch to it and three mist-like cluster of gases emerged. They were bone-gray with three darker parts in the middle. As they rose to enter an orb that was attached to her bracelet, they made a voice that somehow sounded like contentment.

During this whole tirade, Naruto watched her closely and especially the bracelet on her right wrist. It was made from platinum with about twelve small gray orbs attached in the middle and as the mist-like gas move towards one orb, the sphere glowed red.

"What was it that you were doing?" Naruto asked.

"Absorbing souls," she replied, "They are what made my summoned oni (demon). Sometimes, they also teach me something and talk to me."

"Okay then. Back to the matter at hand, would you like to help me kill the rest of the bandits or just watch?"

"I'll help. I also want to test these claws."

The two then walked to the biggest tent where about forty people trying to kill thousands of crows that somehow got in there.

"Your summon?" Tayuya asked.

"No, my bunshin," Naruto answered. He then clicked his fingers and they all turned to life-size Naruto's before disappearing.

Sensing that they had been tricked by the boy they thought they had killed earlier, one man ordered the others to look for the blond and kill him on sight.

The bandits dispersed outside, watched by the red haired girl and the blond ANBU atop a tree that was on the border of the encampment. They waited until things settled a bit and came down at the same time, hacking, slashing, stabbing, and basically killing the bandits.

Needless to say, chaos ensued. None of the rogues expected their target to just jump down and start killing. After half an hour of utilizing jutsu and weapons, they finished their mission and assignment.

Xxxx

The two scavenged the slaughter grounds for anything that's worth something, weapons, armors, jutsu scrolls, treasure, gold, anything. What they found worth approximately nine hundred thousand ryo, most of them were from the treasure chest they found in one of the tents.

By a fair agreement, they split the money 50-50 and would go on their separate ways if a messenger bird hadn't fluttered down and landed on Tayuya's shoulder.

She took out the letter, read it, and frowned. Its contents were orders from Orochimaru; he ordered the red haired girl to go to Konoha and get a certain 'Fuuin Jutsu Scroll' that Danzou knew of.

This meant two things to her; one, she would have to spend more time with the blond maniac and two, she would have to travel back to Otogakure from Konohagakure which was very far.

Sighing in annoyance, the foul mouthed girl cursed and told the blond boy to move his ass and lead the way to Konoha.

Xxxx

_On the way to Konohagakure no Sato_

The 'merry' duo walked through the thick forest that sorrounded Konoha, one with irritation, the other with indifference. Naruto kept listening while Tayuya kept cursing, until a kunai was suddenly thrown to their direction.

They both dodged out of the way as more than ten men wearing the Otogakure hitai-ate showed up and one of them walked forwards and said, "Tayuya-sama, there has been a change of orders for you."

"And that would be?" she asked, not really liking where this conversation is going.

The same man, a slender man with black face mask and camouflage patterned outfit whipped out a scroll and read it out loud, "The agent who goes by the codename 'Konoha no Tsurugi' was deemed a liability for our future plans. Kill him on sight."

After hearing this, the red haired girl tried to resist her urge to just blow up in their faces. She knew how strong this guy was, after all he did beat Orochimaru's top five alone. 'Maybe that's the reason why Orochimaru-sama sent about ten men out now,' she thought.

Naruto, on the other hand had no problems and still looked indifferent after he took off his mask that he put back on several hours ago.

"Yield, 'Konoha no Tsurugi', resistance is futile," the man continued.

With a smile, Naruto raised both his hands and said, "Okay, I give up… not!"

Then, the blond waved them down quickly and two blades of wind shot out, splitting two Oto shinobi's in two. Surprised, the others leapt away and spread away, not wanting to receive the same treatment as their comrades who just got split in two by an invicible weapon.

Tayuya was conflicted in this; if she joined her comrades from Oto, she would be killed by the blond weapon. If she joined the boy, Orochimaru would hunt her down and kill her.

The battle raged on as the foul mouthed girl continued to think about her choices. Naruto himself had his long staff out, deflecting kunai's and shuriken's.

One bandaged nin wearing an odd shaped gauntlet with many holes in it leapt and swiped his arm at Naruto who then calmly crushed his skull with a simple swing of his metal staff. He turned around to see another ninja wearing the exact same gauntlet and he heard a slight screeching created by the 'melody arm'. The boy then barfed and when he recovered, more enemy bunshins came down with their weapons drawn.

Naruto pumped the Kyuubi's chakra into the air around them and they easily formed long, thin strips of air blades which snaked and hissed. The Kaze no himo or 'wind rope' as he dubbed them slashed through the enemy and soon, the bunshin army was gone.

The improved wind blades ran and hissed like a viper would as they chased their targets, the ten chuunin of Otogakure.

Xxxx

'Heh, that kid's pretty stupid. Fighting in a thick forest like this. He can't see us, but we can hear him,' a chuunin thought.

He continued to run through the forest until he felt a cold wind against his back. Feeling something wet, he turned and touched his back over his shoulder and looked at his fingers. What met his sight was the crimson of his own blood. Shaking in fear, he began to slash his kunai rapidly, hoping to somehow hit his attacker.

This action, however made his blood to continue dripping from the large wound that took off his entire back skin and soon the chuunin collapsed from blood lost.

Xxxx

The rest of the said chuunin's comrades weren't as lucky as he was, seeing that their internal organs and major arteries were cut by the wind blade. Everyone had the same look, wide, dead eyes and blood dripping from their mouths and wounds; all of them were put on the ground around his target and his superior.

When he came to, which was about fifteen minutes after he passed out, he saw that the blond haired kid and the red haired girl talking to themselves.

The chuunin didn't know how the hell he managed to stay alive, for all he knew, he should've been dead by all the blood lost. Then, he remembered that he had gritted his teeth so hard, the blood pill he put inside one of his back molars popped out and he swallowed it when he blacked out.

Curious, he continued to observe what was transpiring in front of him.

Xxxx

"So, which side will you be on? Mine and stay alive for an indefinite period of time or Orochimaru's and face immediate death?" Naruto asked to the girl. She was transformed. Her lightly tanned skin was deep purple and the small horns she had grew longer and bigger, giving her the impression of some demon and her clothes were torn in several places. The ANBU member, however only lost his armor and a cut plus several bruises on his body shown by his torn sleeves.

"Do I look like I really have a choice?" Tayuya asked back as she laughed a little, "In the end, I'll die anyways, either by your hands or his."

"Tayuya-sama, don't forget which side you're on!" the still alive Oto chuunin yelled.

The blond boy in turn sighed and shook his head while the red haired girl slapped her forehead at her 'subordinate's foolishness and only watched as the boy in front of her threw a kunai straight to between the man's eyes. The blade connected and he crashed down the tree he was on.

"Now that the disturbance is gone, what will it be?"

"Fine, I accept your offer…"

Naruto then approached the girl who was transforming back to her original form and stuck out a hand for her to shake. She didn't move her hand and said, "If you can ensure my safety and get rid of this cursed seal."

"Deal."

The two then shook their hands, sealing the deal.

A.N.: Next chapter will include a time skip to the canon's timeline. Tell me what you think about this one.


	5. Chapter 4

**A.N.:** Due to the lack of response, i decided to repost this chapter with a few changes. in the end of this chapter, there will be another vote. please Read, Review, and Vote.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

**Chapter 4: Betrayal and Death of Student**

Both Naruto and Tayuya walked towards Konoha in relative silence as both of them were quite tired. Halfway through, after ensuring the blond boy's unawareness should she attack him, Tayuya slammed her flute to his skull with a force strong enough to break a skull and the boy fell down like a heap of meat to the grassy road below.

"Thanks for the offer, shithead, no thanks," the red haired girl said as she waved a hand, "Those guys are just dead weights anyway."

Then, she thought back to the mission she was given.

Xxxx

_Flashback_

"Konoha's living weapon is a threat to our position should he stay alive. Your primary objective here is not only to decimate the group of bandits, but also ensuring the agent with the alias Konoha no Tsurugi's demise. You will be given ten chuunin's to do this. Should you not succeed, do not fail."

Xxxx

_End of Flashaback_

The stern voice of the serpent sannin was still clear in her mind. The last sentence meant: if he doesn't die, impair him. Then the foul mouthed girl approached the fallen boy and took out the pair of claws he had given her and raised it high to the air.

"So long, Konoha no Tsurugi," she said as she plunged the weapon to his face.

The attack would've killed if a wind blade didn't interupt the weapon's course and cut the sharp tip. Wobbly, Naruto stood up and glared at her in animalistic rage no one had ever seen before from the perpetually smiling boy who was healing at a frightening rate from his wounds.

The blond boy's aura went more demonic as blades of wind shot out at short intervals from all around him and more than a few struck the girl.

'Looks like this is it,' she thought. Looking at the face of the now red eyed juggernaut drained her hopes of surviving as he walked closer to her. He reeled his fist back to punch a haymaker to the brown eyed girl and shot it out faster than any kunai would.

But, mere inches from her face, the fist dropped and so did the boy as a talisman was placed on his nape. Tayuya looked at her 'saviour' that was none other than one of her subordinates that she was sure had died.

But, considering his present state, the man was as good as dead, seeing his missing arm and torn leg. "Run, Tayuya-sama. Don't let our sacrifice be in vain," he croaked out.

Not one to lose chances, the red haired girl quickly ran away to report back to her superior, the serpent sennin, Orochimaru about the situation. She didn't turn back even after hearing the chuunin's body being crushed and a bestial roar.

Xxxx

_Orochimaru's office_

"Forgive me, Orochimaru-sama," the girl said, kowtowing to her superior as deep as she could.

"What's there to forgive? You didn't succeed, yet you didn't fail; just like what I told you," the effeminate man said, "Now leave, go to the infirmary and patch yourself up."

'So, he's still alive, eh? No matter. The pieces are being played as I wish it to anyway,' the pale man thought.

Xxxx

_Konohagakure's ninja only hospital, three days later_

Naruto groaned loudly, holding his bandaged head and scanned around his room. The hospital ward was plain white in every single spot, as if boasting its cleanness. Everything was white, the sheets, the curtain, the walls, the ceiling, everything. Well, everything save for the other occupant of the room who was reading a book.

"Sai," he greeted.

"Welcome back to the realm of the living," the dark haired boy said back.

"So, how are you feeling?" he asked as he stood up from his chair.

"I've been through worse," the blond said.

"I see. You know, Danzou-sama was quite worried about you for a while. But, after seeing those weapons you brought back, he surmised that you completed the mission," the smiling boy said. "By the way, what are you going to do now?"

"Plotting," Naruto replied.

"For what?"

Naruto's smile grew wider and more devious as he said one word, "Revenge."

Xxxx

The blond's life after his discharge from the hospital went the same way as it was before for four years, doing missions, killing people, scavenging and modifying weapons, learning new ways to harness his wind and air manipulation and his ever growing telekinetic abilities.

'Life's boring,' he thought from his spartan room. 'I wonder if today Danzou-sama's going to give me a more worthy challenge.'

In his boredom, the living weapon laid around on his bed, thinking about the many possible ways of modifying his weapons and the whereabouts of that red haired bitch, Tayuya who betrayed him those four years ago.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't realize a knocking from his door. In a leisurely pace, he walked to the wooden door and opened it, only to see a messenger from his boss, Danzou with a letter on his hand.

Naruto took the letter graciously from the messenger and told him to wait for a minute for the boy to give him a tip. The white clad messenger told him it wasn't necessary, but the blue eyed boy insisted and the man waited for a while.

Just before the door shut, the blond boy strafed to the right before he outstretched a hand to pull the messenger in and slammed the envoy to the wall, pinning him.

"Did anyone follow you?" he asked.

"No, no one did," came the answer albeit a terrified one at that.

The living weapon gave a faint nod before digging his hands into his pants pocket and took out a weapon, shaped almost like Sarutobi Asuma's trench knives. It was a cross between a brass knuckle and a curved knife. The weapon had four spikes, one on each knuckle, each was an inch long and the metal grip was attached to a curved knife on top, near the wielder's thumb. The blade was so curved, it almost looked like a scythe. The weapons Naruto had a pair he called 'Kouga', 'tiger's fang'.

Without saying a word, he lodged the blade into the envoy's neck and pried it loose, spraying blood everwhere. After Naruto cleaned the blood on his fingers and weapon, he tore the envelope carefully, fearing he trigger a booby trap in it. Finding none, the blond took out the letter and read it: 'Momochi Zabuza spotted in Nami no Kuni. Assist team 7 and eliminate target. Go to mission assignment building and get detailed information regarding this matter and commence mission at this day, exactly one hour after information is given.'

The boy was intrigued. How come Danzou asked him to do this B-rank mission? Momochi Zabuza was a free nuke-nin, coming and going as he pleased, rarely attacked people or robbed. Then, he remembered; Nami no Kuni was a transit point for every ship and carrieage that connected Hi no Kuni and Mizu no Kuni.

Wasting no time, the blond strapped his gear and went to the mission assignment building.

Xxxx

Upon his entry of the building, Naruto came across a couple of frantic looking old men. Ignoring the sight, he looked towards the Hokage and stepped closer before he kneeled and asked, "Did you call for me, Hokage-sama?"

"Ah, Tsurugi-san, indeed I do. I trust you know about Team 7's condition?" the elderly man asked back. In professional terms, they always use Naruto's code name

"Yes sir, they are in a B-rank mission and encountered Kirigakure no Kijin, correct?"

"Yes. Now, for the reason why you were chosen as reinforcement…"

"Sir, permission to speak freely," the blond man cut him off.

"Granted."

"Allow me to guess, it's because Uchiha Sasuke is in team 7 and as of now is in danger. Am I wrong in any of this?"

"No, as a matter of fact, you are correct," the old man nodded.

"So then, my mission is to rescue Uchiha Sasuke and eliminate Momochi Zabuza and his accomplice if any?" the blue eyed lad asked.

"Yes, it would help if you make sure all of team 7 is safely back, but to the council, Uchiha is the priority."

"Hai," with that said, the blond boy stood up, turned on his heel and wallked out the building, taking note of the last information Sarutobi-sama told him, "In team 7, there is already a casualty. From Hatake Kakashi, as their jounin sensei's last report, he is seriously wounded and would die."

Xxxx

_Nami no Kuni, Tazuna's house, two days later at night_

Naruto knocked the door of the sturdy, yet seemingly run down residence of the 'super famous' bridge builder, Tazuna. When he got in, he was greeted by a beautiful woman of around 30 years of age.

"Excuse me, but does the ninja from Konohagakure live here?" the boy asked politely, showing his hitai-ate as an ID.

"Yes, come in," the woman said, "May I ask your name so I can tell them that a guest is expecting them?"

"Of course. Just tell Hatake Kakashi that Tsurugi is here. He knows about me," the blue eyed boy said.

Wordlessly, the masked boy followed the woman who identified herself as Tsunami to one particular room in the second floor. The black haired woman knocked on the door twice and got in. After explaining to the inhabitants of the room that a person known as 'Tsurugi' is there to see them, Tsunami went out again and told Naruto to go in, then she left to prepare dinner.

Naruto looked at the condition of team 7 and analyzed them; Hatake Kakashi: current status: chakra depletion, time required to recover: give or take another three days; Uchiha Sasuke: perfectly fine, other than fatigue and several bruises; Haruno Sakura: quite shaken, no visible physical ailment; Kagechiyo Seki: cuts amost every where, but will live through.

"Tsurugi-san," Kakashi greeted. "Nice surprise, I never thought Hokage-sama would send you here."

"Kakashi-san," Naruto replied, "Bad surprise, not only did you lie to the Hokage and I at an extent, your first team looked battered."

"Well, I have no other way. If we didn't ask for reinforcement, no doubt one of them will die," the silver haired man said calmly, gesturing to his team. The three genin's were shooting the tall jounin dirty looks, which he ignored.

"Very well, but I will only help if you are near death. Now then, please excuse me," the blond replied, exiting the room.

"Who was that guy, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"That guy is someone you _don't_ wanna mess with," the silver haired jounin said.

"Is he just short or is he young? He looks too short for an ANBU," Sasuke asked, enquiring further information for this potential ally or potential foe.

"Oh, he's young. Around your age, I believe."

"WHAT? Around our age and an ANBU?" Seki yelled. This outburst gained angry looks from everyone in the room, which he shot back with a confused, "What?"

Kakashi sighed in annoyance and shook his head, "Seki, didn't I tell you back when we fought against Zabuza, 'there are people younger than you, but stronger than me'? That guy, Tsurugi is one of the concrete proofs."

"Then, just how strong is he?" Uchiha asked.

"If he doesn't hold back, not even the whole Konoha ANBU force would survive," the copy nin said ominously.

Xxxx

_Dinner, Tazuna's house_

Sasuke was eating like a starved man, so did Seki who wolfed his food down like there was no tomorrow. In less than thirty seconds, they finished their plates and puked them out soon afterwards.

"Hey, if you can't keep it down, don't eat. You're wasting food," Sakura reprimanded.

"No, I need food to continue training," Sasuke said back.

"Yeah, me too," Seki agreed.

Their 'peaceful' dinner was cut short by a short boy wearing a bucket hat and overalls of around six years of age who said tauntingly, "Why do you keep trying? You guys will be killed by Gatou and his men anyway."

"Shut it, kid, we're not like you," the brown haired Seki said.

"That's right; you don't know what pain is," the black haired boy said, "If I were you, I would just give up."

Kakashi decided to cut the argument short as he told them, "Well, you don't need to worry. After all, aside from me, you also have Konoha's living weapon on our side."

"Aside from _me_? Then what the hell are we? Chopped liver?" the pink haired genin whispered to both her teammates who nodded in agreement with both boys showing different emotions: Sasuke with anger in his eyes and Seki with annoyance.

In irritation, the boy whom Tsunami later intorduced as her son, Inari stood up from his chair, excused himself from the group, and went to the roof for some alone time after telling them how futile it was to fight against Gatou.

Xxxx

_Roof of Tazuna's House_

Naruto was standing on the tip of the roof with his blue eyes closed and let the night air hit his face in full force, as he had taken off his mask and hood. The blond boy inclined his face upwards, looking at the moon that shone brightly in the sky.

Hearing footsteps, the living weapon turned to the staircase that led to the roof. He saw Inari climbing it with his arms and almost lost his grip.

The black haired boy looked at the mysterious stranger who stood atop his house and asked, like any ordinary people, "Who are you?"

The blond ignored the question and disappeared into the lack of the night, leaving only a swirl of wind and leafs in his wake.

Xxxx

_The next day_

Kakashi flexed his hand and saw that they worked properly, not limited like before. Then, he tried walking without his crutches and suceeded as well. He left the house and told his team to follow him and Tazuna to the bridge with one thought in his mind, 'The time is near.'

Xxxx

Sasuke and Seki had both succesfully ran up the tree Kakashi told them to climb with their chakra. Sasuke first and three hours later, Seki. Both of them didn't care about the time and returned to Tazuna's house where they rest and recuperate, preparing for the battle that would take place on the next day.

Xxxx

**A.N.: **Naruto's love life will expand from 2 girls into a harem of 3 or possibly more. If two or more of the choices below have the same amount of votes, both will be added.

The choices are:

Anko (the bloodthirsty people)

Shizune (a healer and a killer)

Ino (the psycopath and the possible psychiatrist)

Female Haku (a tool and a weapon)

Tenten (weapon mistress and living weapon)

OC (for this, you have to tell me which village you want her from)

End notes: Remember to Vote and Review! Thank you for your cooperation. bows


	6. Chapter 5

**A.N.:** My yahoo account didn't work properly in the last week, so I'll reply to several reviews here, instead. Thank you for the reviews! I appreciate it.

To Da Devil: The reason for it is simple biologics. If you want to have a good trapeze actore, he/she needs to be trained from when they were mere children. The reason for it is because if when you're still a child and your body is used to physical strain, it will adapt by making your body more suitable for the purpose. Besides, children heals faster from broken bones because their bones are still cartilage. About the short limbs: that's what long range weaponry and his wind blades are for.

To The Dragon Blood Guard: Kin will be if there are enough requests and win the polls. Up till now, she only got one, from you. There are other one voters too: Ayame and Inuzuka Hana.

To Naruto-sama2008: The fight with Zabuza is in this chapter, but if you're still not satisfied, tell me and I'll continue it in the next chapter. If you are, I'll cut it there and maybe continue it some other time.

To Master of Anime: Oh, don't worry, he'll show anger in the next chapter. Okay, maybe rage.

To boringreader: yeah, I did.

To InuRyuu: None, they just asked me to not make Naruto a replacement in team 7, but I couldn't find a way to do it, so... you know what happens.

**Chapter 5: Difference of Strength**

_The day before_

In the morning, Naruto was up, doing sit-ups while hanging on a tree branch. The boy didn't go to the bridge yet because he knew Kakashi would signal him should they be in trouble. His keen sense of smell picked up many scents; flowers, grass, trees, and a person. Seeing no point in hiding his presence anymore, he continued his morning exercise. 'Hiding now will only rouse suspicion. Let's see what this person wants,' the blond thought.

The person he saw was someone whom he didn't expect, a beautiful girl wearing a light blue kimono with an herb basket dangling on her arms. She looked harmless at a glance, but somehow, the blue eyed boy could smell blood coming from her.

Xxxx

Haku saw a masked and hooded person wearing a black hoodie hanging from a tree branch by his knees doing sit-ups and, trying to keep the act of a normal village girl, she asked the stranger politely, "What are you doing?"

The masked person turned to her for a while and flipped down to the ground. Then, he walked closer and asked, "What does it matter?"

Ignoring the rude comment, she just answered him, "Nothing, I'm just curious."

There was a moment of silence between them as she knelt down and began picking herbs then asked, "Why do you train? To become strong?"

Naruto ignored the question and looked the other way before he asked, "Does it matter? Strength I mean."

"Of course it does. I need to become strong to protect my precious person," the black haired girl said.

The blond in turn asked back, "So that's the reason you strive to be strong?"

"Yes, what's yours? Your reason to be strong."

"No reason," the jinchuuriki said.

At that moment, Haku was confused. If there was no reason, should an action be done?

The blue eyed boy looked at the black haired girl who momentarily paused and stared at him. Seeing the girl's confusion, Naruto said, "Not everything needs a reason. One of them is being strong."

After his words were spoken, the living weapon turned his back on her and disappeared.

Xxxx

_Tazuna's house, the next day_

Tsunami screamed from the kitchen as two men who was working under Gatou busted the wall of the kitchen she was in. One of them, wearing a beanie said to her, "Are you Tazuna's daughter? 'Cause our boss told us to get you."

This time, she screamed louder and alerted Inari who was washing his hands in the toilet on the floor above. Tsunami was backed up against the kitchen counter and at the same time, both Gatou's henchmen and Inari were closing in.

The six year old boy called to his mother and the two samurai's turned to each other. "What? There's a kid here?" the unshirted one asked.

As her motherly instinct kicked in, Tsunami yelled to her son, "Inari, don't come! Run away!"

The two henchmen turned to each other and discussed the matter of whether or not they should get another hostage, but the beanie wearing one told the eye patched one not too, after all Gatou only told them to bring one.

Then, the eye patched samurai asked his partner, "So, I can kill the kid, right?"

Hearing the question, Tsunami yelled, "Stop! You want a hostage, right? If you touch the boy, I'll bite my tongue and kill myself."

The beanie wearing samurai sneered and turned to Inari, "Heh, thank your mom, kid."

His partner whined, "But I want to cut something."

"You just cut a bunch of things. Now come on, let's bring her."

From his hiding place, Inari silently cried. Not only had he failed his father, he also failed his mother. 'Mom, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm a weak kid, I can't protect you. And I don't want to die. I'm afraid.'

"Are you afraid, boy?" a voice asked behind him. "Because through fear, comes hestitation and through hestitation comes weakness."

Fightfully, the black haired boy turned to see the owner of the voice. He was a boy with blond hair and a smiling face. He wore a black hoodie and dark blue pants with a pair of ninja sandals.

"But even if you are weak, protect your objective with your life. The moment you lost it is the moment you fail and be nothing more than useless," the person said again.

Then, the new comer jumped through the air and kicked one samurai straight on the face, breaking his nose and several teeth. Naruto aka Tsurugi continued with a sharp roundhouse kick that the other samurai received full on the side of his head; messing his equilibrium and coordination.

Tsunami also heard that cold, distant voice; but couldn't place her finger on whose voice it was. Then, she remembered. It was that night visitor who called himself Tsurugi. "My, my. Two people trying to restrain a lady?" he spoke as he landed gracefully on the ground, "Who in heaven's name is so weak, he needs a partner to restrain a civilian woman?"

"Don't fuck with us, kid," the unshirted, eye patched samurai said, wiping the blood on his face and stood up; his partner did the same.

"Who wants to? I'm not a homosexual and most certainly, you two are not women," the blue eyed boy said.

Enraged, the two samurai lunged at him and tried to slash him. Calmly, the 12 year old brought out Kouga and blocked the swords with the tiger fangs' curved blades like it was nothing. "Weak," he said.

Then, in a flash of movements, he kicked both of them in the solar plexus and sent them flying a meter away. The two henchmen tried to stand up, but ended kneeling in front of the living weapon. The blond continued by shooting out two wind blades that struck their thighs and arms, severing them.

Both men cried loudly while nursing their severed limbs. Naruto then walked towards them and lodged Kouga deep into their skulls, perfectly piercing the brain. Then, the boy pulled the pair of weapons out, and took their swords, then sealed them in a scroll.

Naruto turned to the woman and child and said, "Where are Kakashi-san and his team? And your father?"

"The… they are at the bridge," Tsunami said.

"I see, thank you," the living weapon said. He paused in his steps and turned to Inari who was hiding behind a wall corner before saying, "There is something the people of this country should do. If you are smart, you should know what I mean."

The blond then continued his steps to the bridge.

Xxxx

_Bridge Construction Site_

Kakashi and his team of genin escorted Tazuna to the bridge. He brought all of them because for some reason, he believed that today; there would be something big happening.

And true to his thoughts, the 'something big' unraveled itself right before their eyes. The bridge workers were on the ground; some were injured and others were killed. One thing for sure, all of them were bleeding. Tazuna ran to one of them, sat the man up and asked, "What happened?"

"Mo… monster. It… it's a monster," he said before he fell to unconsciousness.

'Monster? Hmmm, could it be?' Kakashi thought.

Then, the silver haired jounin noticed something different, a thick mist appeared out of nowhere. Cautiously, he stated to his team, "Get ready. The enemy's here."

Sakura asked her sensei, "Kakashi-sensei, this is the 'Kirigakure no jutsu', right?"

"Long time no see, Kakashi," Zabuza's voice cut through the mist, "And you're still with those brats… he's shaking again. Poor kid…"

Then, ten Mizu bunshin's of Zabuza appeared. They had completely sorrounded team 7 and Tazuna.

"I'm shaking out of excitement," Sasuke said.

"Hmm, do it, Sasuke," Kakashi told his student.

Then, the Uchiha survivor slashed all the clones, leaving none standing and turned them into water again.

"Hmm, he saw through the Mizu bunshin. It seems the brat has grown," Haku said.

"It seems you have a rival in speed, eh, Haku?" Zabuza asked his student/underling.

"It does indeed."

"Hmm, looks like I was right. That masked guy, is obviously Zabuza's comrade. Standing next to him and all," Konoha's copy nin said.

"That bastard should just stop hiding behind that mask and face us," the angsty Sasuke said, "I'll fight him. Tricking us with a stupid act like that, I hate sons of bitches like that"

"Wow, Sasuke-kun is so cool," Sakura said in a fan-girl-ish way. Meanwhile, their comrade, Seki was quietly sneaking away from the battle field, thinking, 'Damn, at first, I thought being a ninja means I can be sorrounded by pretty girls all year round. If I'd known I'll be putting my life on the line,… AARRGGH! I knew I should've just joined that business school pops always told me about. I should just get away from here.'

Seeing all this, their sensei shook his head and thought, 'When I pass a team, they're messed up. Although Sasuke's strong, he's too hell bent in revenge; Sakura's too infatuated with him; and Seki's a coward. Why, oh why did I accept when Hokage-sama said I should take a team of genin?'

'Oh yeah, it's because if not, it's that psycho that's gonna teach them,' again, the copycat sighed loudly.

This didn't go unnoticed by Naruto who was approaching their location at a relaxed pace. About 50 meters from them, he stopped and put his mask and hooded robe on before he disappeared in a whirl of leaves, only to reappear right between Kakashi's and Zabuza's faction.

Seeing the blond's appearance, the silver haired jounin asked, "Aaah, Tsurugi-san, nice of you to join us."

"I'm here to complete my secondary mission. So, Kakashi-san, Zabuza-san will be my opponent," he replied.

"Sure, sure. No hassle here. Then I'll leave you two to fight then," Kakashi said as he turned around, watching Sasuke's fight with Haku; ready to step in when things get awry for the onyx haired boy. "Sakura, Seki, cover Tazuna. If he dies, he won't be the only one going to the after life."

"Huh? What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Tsurugi-san hates people who are useless," the silver haired jounin answered cryptically, then he left to watch Sasuke's fight, only serving as an observer all the while ignoring the questions his two students kept shouting.

Xxxx

_Battlefield, Naruto & Zabuza_

"You'll be crying like a baby once I'm done with you, Konoha no Tsurugi," Zabuza said as he unstrapped his zanbatou, "Even if you are strong, you still lack experience and reflex."

Naruto made no answer to that taunt, but prepared his own weapon. He smeared blood across his left forearm after he rolled the sleeve back. A giant sword the size of Kubikiri Houcho appeared on the blond's left hand. It was a big, slightly curved sword with straight hilt that was wrapped tightly with red wires. The hand guard was 10 inches long, 1 inch wide and golden in color. A fan-shaped arch with inclinations as its spines was formed on the hand guard, passing the 8 inch wide blade, and ended on the other side. The blade of the weapon was dull gray, in contrast to Zabuza's black blade; and on it, many runes of kanji were written.

"I only know one person who wields that kind of sword, Ishiki Ken from Iwa. And that sex loving son of a bitch never lets go of his sword," the bandaged man spoke. "So no doubt you've killed him, right?"

"That is correct, Zabuza-san," the blond man said. "That fool never takes care of his sword eventhough it is very, very valuable. She as in the sword was crying when he wielded her."

An uncomfotable silence passed through the duo; both were sizing up each other, trying to find the perfect moment to strike. Naruto began formulating a plan in his mind as the wind blew. After two seconds, they both charged towards each other.

Naruto shot out three wind blades at Kirigakure no Kijin, aiming for his neck, pelvis, and sternum. All of them hit something and Naruto heard water splashing, no doubt it hit a Mizu bunshin. Then, where is Zabuza?

The living weapon stopped and thought about this, until he heard a voice from the heavy mist that he noticed didn't dissipate when his wind blew.

"8 choices," it said. "Liver, lungs, spine, clavical vein, jugular vein, brain, kidneys, and heart. Which should I hit?

"Make your choice now, or I'll choose for you," Zabuza's voice spoke again.

The blue eyed boy smiled from behind his mask and said, "Heart. I've never needed it, anyway."

Zabuza nodded his head and grinned. Then, he appeared, right in front of Naruto and slashed his heart as strong and as fast as he could with a diagonal downward slash. His blade, however was stopped by the blond's sword, which was almost 6 feet in total length, its hilt only took 1 foot from the whole length.

Naruto in turn, shot a vertical wind blade from the sky downwards at Zabuza who dodged back and spun mid air to twirl horizontally and stuck his sword out, making a spinning slash because he surmised Naruto would charge forwards.

His thoughts, however was incorrect because the blond was already at his face when the bandaged nukenin regained his footing. The blue eyed ANBU held his weapon on his left hand in reverse grip and punched with his right hand.

Zabuza calmly dodged it to the side and tried to slash the limb, but stepped back quickly like a fish reeled back by a fisherman when the boy swung his giant sword in one hand to the place where his head was.

The bandaged man then leapt back several steps and began doing the handseals for one of his favored jutsu. When it was finished, he cried out, "Suiryuudan no jutsu!"

A water dragon formed itself in front of Zabuza and rushed at Naruto whom, after seeing the jutsu prepared one of his own, "Fuuken: Zan!" Wind Blade: Sever

A strong gust of wind the shape of a crescent moon appeared and cut the gigantic dragon vertically as it passed through the jutsu and aimed to the Kirigakure nukenin.

Zabuza dived to the side, knowing full well how strong that move was. Seeing the end result of the foliage 100 meters from behind him, he was damn grateful to any deities that listened to his prayer and eluded him from that crazy bastard's jutsu.

Mentally, the tall man swore that he would become a monk if he survived this fight. But, before he could even rub his beating chest to ease the thumps, another wind blade appeared right before his eyes.

Zabuza ducked through the attack and reared back when Naruto's knee almost came into contact with his face.

"Not bad," the blond said. "But really, do you think that will safe you?"

The man known as Kirigakure no Kijin tried to retaliate to the insult, but he was cut off by a crazy cackle from the side; where the short man known as Gatou stood with his army of lackeys.

**Vote Results:**

Anko (the bloodthirsty people) 13

Shizune (a healer and a killer) 12

Ino (the psycopath and the possible psychiatrist) 4

Female Haku (a tool and a weapon) 16

Tenten (weapon mistress and living weapon) 13

OC (for this, you have to tell me which village you want her from) 4

There was a request of adding Ayame, Hana, and Kin into the fray. I will consider it if there are many requests for it. Keep on voting! Cause it will end in the 6th or 7th chapter.


	7. Chapter 6

**A.N.:** Here's the next chapter! There's a scene that I don't include here because it'll be in the next chapter (Naruto and Zabuza's final showdown). I'm open to suggestions, so whatever you have in mind, tell me, ok?

To **Aires Drake**: Thanks, I try my best to make sure there's none, but if several slips out; I apologize.

To **ninjagaiden119**: Sorry, but Zabuza's sword will go to Haku. After all, Naruto already had a great sword, no point in another one. But I will definitely put many improvements on Kubikiri Houchou.

To **Alchemist-nin**: Frenzy? Oh, definitely. I'll be sure to put it in the next chapter (Naruto and Zabuza's final showdown scene). Tsurugi means 'sword'.

To **BeastWithin**: This story will have more pointy sharp objects in the near future.

To N**aruto-sama2008**: Next chapter will have more fights. But I'll have to ask you: Which do you want more in the fight? Flashy jutsu or deadly strikes?

To **Master of Anime**: If Shizune doesn't win, I'll put her in another fic I'm currently starting; still in development stage. How does that sound? Don't worry the poll will stop at the next chapter.

**Chapter six: The Way a Sword Slashes, The Unforgettable Sight**

Zabuza and Naruto stopped in mid-swing, looking at the business tycoon in front of them. The two retracted their sword arms and turned Gatou. The short man cackled again and looked at Zabuza and Haku who also stopped her fight with Sasuke.

"So, you can't even handle two brats and an old man?" he spoke, "How disappointing."

"Gatou, what are you doing here? And what's with all these people?" Zabuza asked.

"The plan's changed. Hehe, well actually I was planning to do this from the beginning.

"Zabuza, I'll kill you here."

"What?"

"That's right, I don't plan on giving you money.

"Hiring ninja's from villages is expensive, then they betray me; so I get nuke-nin's like you to do the dirty, tedious job. The ninja's fight and weaken each other, and then I finish them all with sheer numbers.

"It cost me nothing. Good plan, don't you think? The only problem in the plan was you, Zabuza. You're the Kirigakure no Kijin? Humph, you're nothing but a little baby demon."

Hearing their boss' 'encouragement', the army of underlings roared and charged.

Xxxx

Naruto watched as the scene unfolded itself right before his eyes. This was a battle he had never dreamed of, a fight with 50+1 men. This was his dream come true! A battle worth fighting in, a battle worthy of his attention.

Shivering in anticipation, he sealed back the giant blade and revealed two other weapons, a six feet bamboo shaped gray metal staff with visibly thicker segments on the edges and a plain dark brown stick, about 2 and a half feet long with a rounded tip.

The blond boy stuck the shorter weapon onto his belt and retracted the two wide segments of the long staff, making the main shaft's tips spread into numerous sharp, flat, thin blades.

He grinned behind his mask and made ten kage bunshin's before setting into his stance, ready to finish them all off.

Xxxx

Zabuza in turn looked at his blond counterpart. He certainly seemed like he would enjoy the fight in front of him. Deciding not to back out from this fight to feel the thrill of a battle royale one more time, he too created mizu bunshin's and got ready to fight.

Xxxx

Kakashi and his team who were watching Sasuke's ass kicking courtesy of Haku stopped for a moment when they heard a warcry from where Naruto and Zabuza stood. They all looked at the horde of people and they (i.e. Kakashi and Haku) decided to jump into the fray to help their comrade/superior.

Haku dispelled her ice mirrors and Kakashi made several kage bunshin's after telling Sakura and Seki to take care of the incapitated Sasuke.

The two ran to where the major fight would take place, but suddenly the silver haired jounin pulled the black haired girl to a stop and dismissed the clones he made earlier.

"Why are you stopping me?" she demanded.

"Because as of now, none of them can be helped," he said sagely, "If you try to help them now, you will do nothing but add the body count."

"Why are you telling me this? Aren't I your enemy?" she asked again.

"Not right now, because you're just another watcher of what will transpire here, just like us."

Xxxx

"Giichi-san, Giichi-san," Inari called as he knocked on the door. "Open up, come with me to the bridge. This time, if we all go together, we can beat Gatou's men."

"I'm sorry, Inari," came the reply, "We don't want to fight anymore.

"Even your father, the man called a hero is no longer here. If we fight, we'll have to make sacrifices. And we don't want to lose anything precious anymore. Nobody wants to do something they'd regret."

"I don't want to do anything I'd regret either," the 6 year old boy replied. "That's why we have to fight."

Xxxx

The foot soldiers charged to where the two (now twenty) men stood and as soon as the first one reach them, his head was cleaved clean by Zabuza. The big man roared and kicked another foot soldier which his mizu bunshin finished with another slice to the head. He swung his giant blade around and struck their shins, cutting if not breaking them.

He deflected a thrust from a spearman and lashed out with a jaw breaking left hook, continued with a sharp knee to gut and ended with his head being clutched and the rest of him thrown to his comrades.

The demon of the mist slashed at his other opponents with a heavy swing of Kubikiri Houcho and caught in the instant two people.

Xxxx

'A man should live a life with no regrets,' Inari heard his father say. "…I love my mom, my grandpa, you and everyone else in this city. Now I know you can't protect anything by being a crybaby. That smiling guy the other day taught me that."

Xxxx

"You can't go to the bridge alone!" Tsunami yelled.

"I went throughout the city and nobody wants to come. I have no choice," Inari said to his mother.

"But… you're still a child!" she tried reasoning.

"I am still a kid, but I know how to fight," the 6 year old answered, "After all, I am my father's child."

"Wait!" the black haired woman called.

Xxxx

Naruto was fairing better than Zabuza. His modified staff/blade easily slashed and tore through the enemy ranks. With just one swing, he had severed the jugular vein of a man and with another upward swing, sent a blade flying and into the skull of another person.

His kage bunshin's were faring well on their own, slashing and cutting away, but mostly holding off Zabuza's mizu bunshin's until finally, the living weapon thought that it wasn't fun anymore, he dispelled them and began swinging and turning his staff around, all the while shooting his wind blades, cutting up more than enough to diminish their numbers.

As he stopped twirling his weapon, he spread his arms down, held the grayish staff out diagonally, and made a small wind rope to finish the job. When the wind subsided, twenty people dropped lifelessly to the ground like ragdolls.

Xxxx

Despite what the spectators' thought, the battle only lasted for thirty minutes and none of the two were severely injured, just a few scratches here and there.

"Kakashi-san, finish the job," the blond commanded as he tried to regain his breath before he had enough rest and sealed his staff.

Said man nodded and ran to the cowering Gatou who was crawling out of the way. But, before Kakashi could get to him, a crossbow bolt flew and struck the ground right in front of the squat man. He instantly reeled back in fear and met face-to-face with Hatake Kakashi who had a kunai in his hand.

"Gatou-san, this is both personal and business, but don't let it get to you, ok?" the silver haired man spoke calmly.

Before the masked jounin could sit Gatou's neck, the citizens of Nami no Kuni approached the business tycoon, hogtied him and proceeded to beat the shit out of the man before he was dragged to the town square, where he will be executed publicly to show Nami's independence.

Both Naruto and Zabuza were exhausted, but they could still fight one more battle. Spectators from Nami, Kakashi's team, Tazuna, and Haku stood by watching what would happen.

Both fighters stood 15 meters apart from each other with their hands on the hilts of their weapons and simultaneously ran at each other. Zabuza tried to sever Naruto's leg with a low swipe. The blond jumped over the attack and twirled mid-air before he slashed the black haired man's head with a saber hidden in the dark brown stick.

The demon of the mist turned into water when the attack hit and reappeared behind Konoha's living weapon. He kicked Naruto and used his body as a platform to jump back several feet away, all the while doing handseals for his strongest move, Daibakufu no jutsu.

The blond's body lurched forwards as his opponent's feet kicked him hard and sent him flying. Using a well timed spin, he landed on the ground gracefully and prepared his untested move.

The 12 year old concentrated thousands of small wind blades on his palm in a rotating manner; slowly at first but continued to grow faster by each passing moment until the wind took form of am orb (no, it's not Rasengan). The blue eyed boy finished the jutsu at the same time as Zabuza and both of them released them at the same time.

"Daibakufu no jutsu," the older man called out.

"Senpuudan," the boy shouted. (Whirl wind orb)

The two spinning jutsu hit each other with the same force. Water dispersed into vapor as the tremendous kinetic energy was converted into heat. Soon, the whole battlefield was filled with the vapor and the two fighters disappeared from view.

The spectators watched anxiously, waiting for the result of the fight. Five seconds passed quickly and the steam disippated, showing one scene they all would remember for a long time. Naruto's thin sabre pierced Zabuza's his shoulder, while Zabuza's Kubikiri Houcho's flat side hit Naruto's head and cracked his mask a little.

Both of them slumped down, too exhausted to do any more. Haku saw her master's condition and rushed to him, trying to confirm his condition. Kakashi, however stood where he was, not doing anything other then telling Seki to carry the unconscious Sasuke and Sakura to go with them to Tazuna's house.

"Kakashi-sensei, about Tsurugi-san…," Sakura said.

"Don't worry about him. He's way tougher than that. You might want to step back though," the tall man said as he walked to his comrade. "Oy, Tsurugi, are you still alive?"

The masked boy lay still for a while before he suddenly stood erect like a raised corpse, eliciting a loud shriek from Sakura. Naruto turned to the pink haired girl sharply with little to no emotion at all before he looked away and regarded Kakashi with a nod.

"So, what're you going to do now? The way I see it you didn't kill Zabuza," the scarecrow said as he flipped his porn open.

"Nothing. The mission specified me to only eliminate a threat to the Sharingan," the living weapon said curtly.

"Ok then, do you mind if we take those two along?" the jounin asked, pointing to Haku and Zabuza with an inclination of his head.

"Doesn't matter," came the reply. The blond then sniffed the air several times and glared at a tree exactly 56 meters away from him.

"What is it?" the silver haired pervert asked.

"Nothing, yet," Naruto said before he reached into his pockets and flopped down a soldier pill.

Xxxx

_Later that night_

Konoha no Tsurugi stood on the eaves of Tazuna's house with a far away look on his cold blue eyes, focusing on a cloud in the vast sky above.

"Something in your mind?" Kakashi asked out of nowhere.

Naruto looked at the jounin who had appeared from the ladder that led there and shrugged dismissively.

"I see then, well I'll be just downstairs if you need me," the tall man said as he dropped to the ground and mentally played a scene of hardcore porn in his mind.

"How long are you going to be there, Tayuya?" the blond asked calmly in a lighthearted voice.

"So you noticed me, eh?" the red haired girl asked as she appeared in a vortex of dust.

"Hmmm, it'd be hard for me not to."

"What the fuck do you want now? Here to kill me now? I heard the new Konoha no Tsurugi is a bigger nutcase than the one before."

"Kill you? Where's the fun in that?"

Tayuya seethed in anger and yelled out, "So you're gonna rape me then kill me?"

"Rape you? No, because you see, I will make you suffer. Suffer more than any suffering you've felt before," the blue eyed boy said. "Now leave. We will be seeing each other more often."

The foul mouthed girl looked at the psycopath wierdly, but left nonetheless in great hurry, without failing to notice the crazy grin Konoha's living weapon had behind his mask. She couldn't see it, but she could feel it all too well.

Xxxx

"Your business done?" the Copy nin asked.

"Yes," Naruto answered as he entered the house's corridor via the window nearest to Haku and Zabuza's accomodation.

"Huh? I thought your mission was to protect Sasuke."

"No. my mission was to: 1) ensure the safety and activation of Sharingan, 2) eliminate any threats to the Sharingan, 3) assassinate Gatou. It specified nothing about you student, Hatake-san," the smiling boy said before taking his mask off and proceeded to check up upon his two prisoners.

"Ok then, you want me to go?"

"Please do."

Xxxx

**A.N.:** Keep on voting... . Oh, there's a preview for next chapter.

**Vote Results:**

Anko (the bloodthirsty people) 23

Shizune (a healer and a killer) 13

Ino (the psycopath and the possible psychiatrist) 7

Female Haku (a tool and a weapon) 27

Tenten (weapon mistress and living weapon) 23

OC (for this, you have to tell me which village you want her from) 4

Ayame 2

Hana 3

Kin 4

Yugito 1

**Preview:**

**Chapter seven: New In the Roster**

Naruto entered the room calmly without his mask. He closed the door rather softly so it didn't make any sound. Haku noticed his entry and quickly turned her head to the new entry. Seeing the unknown blond, she looked to calm down a little, but still kept her hand on the senbon needle hidden by the long sleeved tutleneck she wore.

"Lower the weapon," the living weapon said sternly.

The black haired girl froze when she heard that voice. It was the same voice as that masked person in the woods and the bridge. "Why?" she asked.

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you kill us?"

"No reason. I thought you two'd be more useful alive than dead."

so, how was it?


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven: Disappearance**

Naruto entered the room calmly without his mask. He closed the door rather softly so it didn't make any sound. Haku noticed his entry and quickly turned her head to the new entry. Seeing the unknown blond, she looked to calm down a little, but still kept her hand on the senbon needle hidden by the long sleeved tutleneck she wore.

"Lower the weapon," the living weapon said sternly.

The black haired girl froze when she heard that voice. It was the same voice as that masked person in the woods and the bridge. "Why?" she asked.

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you kill us?"

"No reason. I thought you two'd be more useful alive than dead."

Haku stayed silent at those words and hung her head low. In desperation, she grabbed the senbon hidden under the sleeve of her shirt with both hands and stabbed it at her neck. The black haired girl closed her eyes, waiting for death to claim her, but felt nothing of the sort.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw that another hand stopped the weapon's travel. The thick needle had pierced the hand through and caused a rather large amount of blood to flow.

She looked at the hand and it's owner before she got enraged and yelled at him, "Why? Why can't you just let me die? I've outlived my usefulness. I failed my master, so why can't you just let me die?"

Naruto stayed silent for a while before he asked, "What would dieing achieve?"

"If you had just let me die, then I wouldn't have to live with the shame of failing my master!"

"Then you would rather die with the shame of failing your master?"

Haku was at loss of words. Was it what she wanted? She heard many cases where people commit suicide to regain their honor, but she never had a reason to think whether it was true or not; until now.

"Or would you rather die knowing you killed yourself for nothing worthwhile?

"Now be quiet, the patient still needs rest and you arguing with me can easily rouse him of it."

Xxxx

_Zabuza's dream_

Zabuza relived that five seconds in his life he would never forget: those five seconds that seemed to go forever, the five seconds of duelling with the living weapon of Konoha.

He remembered each move, where both he and his adversary moved in speed that seemed impossible to humans. 'But,' he thought, 'Both of us aren't in that level of humans anymore.'

The big man recounted the fight after the vapor appeared. Both of them slashing and hacking at each other in what seemed like three minutes, but was actually one and a half second.

Zabuza's sword arm throbbed with pain due to overuse, as did Naruto's feet for his continuous, fast footwork. Yet, the older man knew in his mind that he had more advantage: more experience, larger stature that gave him more power, and a secret weapon he stored in Kubikiri Houchou.

The blond boy in front of him whose breath wasn't labored thought furiously for an opening he could make or a move that could end the fight shortly. He searched the library of jutsu's in his mind, but found none that suited his purpose and reluctantly accepted that he had to create one.

The demon of his mist made numerous one handed seals and ended with his palm slapping the side of his large blade. In the same instant, the black blade glowed light blue, signifying the useage of chakra.

'A summoning jutsu,' Naruto thought to himself as he too summoned another power deep within himself. He summoned the power of the Kyuubi no Kitsune to make sure this one move he had just thought up to work.

With a loud roar, the bandaged man leapt and swung his blade in a wide arc, letting the blue aura that surrounded his blade to fly wildly; striking the wave that gave name to the country of waves and, to Naruto's amazement froze the water that the weapon hit.

The masked boy's summoning of power was complete and immediately a red aura engulfed him, protecting the blond from the one unknown effect of the technique he was about to unleash. Naruto created a burning tornado around himself that also turned his blade red hot. Then, the masked boy raised his sword, and by controlling the tornado, he shot himself towards Zabuza.

Naruto's fiery tornado and Zabuza freezing sword aura clashed in equal terms of strength which ended with the blond boy's saber piercing the bandaged man's shoulder and his giant blade hitting the younger boy's mask, crushing several parts of it.

Xxxx

_Real World_

Zabuza stirred in his sleep and groaned. For over ten times he repeated that scene in his dream over and over again and now he could't sleep anymore.

Haku heard her master's groan and called softly, "Zabuza-sama, are you awake?"

The demon of the mist turned to his young protégé and replied, "Yeah. Where are we?"

He tried to sit up, but was held back immediately by Haku who told him, "Don't try to sit, Zabuza-sama, your wounds are quite fatal."

Somewhat disgruntled about his inability, the bandaged man lay down and looked at the blond boy who stood near him. "Konoha no Tsurugi," he hissed through gritted teeth.

"Kirigakure no Kijin," Naruto said back. The two paused for a while; neither of them said anything before the older man finally told his servant/student to leave the room.

Xxxx

Haku closed the door behind her and strained her ears to hear anything that might be noteworthy, but failed. The room was either sound proofed or they were talking in very low voices. After three minutes of trying, she gave up and walked down to the dining room where team 7 and Tazuna's family were having dinner.

Halfway through the hall, she stopped herself. Would they hate her because she helped in the attempt of killing Tazuna? Would any of them try to kill her? What if Zabuza was killed just after she closed the door? All these thoughts bothered her so much; she didn't realize she had just bumped into Kakashi.

"Hey," the jounin said calmly. He didn't expect to see the girl there and then, so he was surprised to see Haku so distraguht, so messed up and it bothered him. Contrary to popular believe that Hatake Kakashi was just a pervert, albeit a strong one at that was very wrong. Because he was quite sensitive, especially when it came to women.

In his early days, when his father had just committed suicide, the scarecrow was angry and depressed, yet it was nothing compared to his mother. The old woman was hysterical and could be classified as crazy; she cried and howled everyday, she wouldn't eat nor sleep and at nights she would talk to herself.

This was what gave him that sensitivity to women, because it pained him to see his mother in a sure trip to the dirt and he, the copycat just didn't want to see another woman to be like her. The other reason was because of his indifference to his mother, she commited suicide and Kakashi blamed it all on himself.

"Wanna talk?" the silver haired man continued.

Xxxx

"So, you're afraid Tsurugi-san will kill Zabuza?" Kakashi asked as he sharpened his kunai's with a whet stone he brought with him.

"Yes, but isn't it normal? Zabuza-sama was the first to ever treat me like a human being. To me, he is… a precious person," Haku told him as she sipped the warm mug of tea on the desk in front of her, courtesy of Tsunami.

"It is, it is," the tall jounin said as he checked the knife for any imbalance. "But, has anyone ever told you about Tsurugi-san?"

"Everything I heard was about his exploits in battle, 'the smiling death god', 'the living weapon', 'the match of a hundred shinobi', and the like. They frighten me," the black haired girl said.

"Uh huh. I wouldn't worry if I were you. Tsurugi-san is a man of efficiency. If it doesn't hinder him, he won't bother doing anything to it. And right now, Zabuza can't even hinder him, because that guy's mission is over."

Xxxx

_Zabuza's room_

Zabuza and Naruto stayed silent before Haku left the room, both of them didn't want her to know what would happen. By the time the door clicked shut, Zabuza let out a sigh he didn't know he had held.

"You care about her, don't you?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, in a way. I just don't want her to feel the fear of constantly running, from something she didn't do of all things," Zabuza replied before he chuckled.

The blond looked at him, raising an eyebrow to show his confusion.

"You know, it's weird. I always thought the living weapon of Konoha is a heartless asshole. But now, I see a little kid who actually cares whether I care about Haku or not."

"I don't think it's a big deal. You do what you have to, after all."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. And to answer your question, yeah, I do."

"I see. Do you need my assistance then?"

"Maybe, why are you being nice to me anyway?"

"A requested mission from the current Mizukage."

"That, huh?"

"Yes. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Okay, I'll go with that. And for this, I think I'll need your help."

"Name it."

"I need you to make me disappear."

Xxxx

"Thank you so much for listening, Kakashi-san," Haku said, bowing politely.

"No problem, I'm happy I could help," the silver haired jounin replied.

Haku bowed again and left to her master's room. She was certain her master's business with that Tsurugi-san was finished.

The black haired girl almost knocked on the door before she heard the words spoken.

"I need you to make me disappear."

Haku was sure that it was her mentor's voice. She wanted to just barge into the room and and dissuade him, but her curiousity got the better of her and when she put her ears to the door, only silence met her ears. After a full minute of trying, she gave up and went back to her room.

Xxxx

"And how do I do that?" Naruto asked.

"That's what I've been thinking about for these last few days, until you came in."

"How does my presence help?"

"I know you've got great connections with the Hokage. I want you to take Haku as a Konoha-nin so I don't have to worry about her anymore."

"This won't help your disappearing act."

"I know. That's why I'll be a monk."

Naruto nodded after hearing Kirigakure no Kijin's words. It was completely logical. Most shinobi's deemed monks and other religious figures as complete fools, especially if they refuse to kill. While monks, in return deemed shinobi's as sinners and blasphemers. Under normal circumstances, one would never visit the other unless it was a very dire need. And Zabuza planned to use this fact as his escaping method.

"I'll handle which the rest. I just need you to promise me you'll take care of Haku," the larger man continued.

"I will."

Xxxx

Outside the door, Haku listened to everything. She was disappointed. She believed that her mentor was the most headstrong person in the world, the very epitome of perseverance. And, here he was, talking about giving up as a shinobi just so she could live happily.

Yet, another side of her was happy because Zabuza cared for her. It gave her a peace of mind knowing that somebody cared for her. The beautiful girl was conflicted; she didn't know which side she should listen to. Finally after giving the matter a long thought, she summarized that she should think about it for a while and talk to Zabuza the next day.

Xxxx

_Later that night_

Zabuza packed many things necessary for his trip to the Temple of Fire in Fire Country, but he purposefully left Kubikiri Houcho and a training manual for the sword on his bed.

"Are you ready?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. I really gotta thank you for this. The map will be useful," the large man answered.

"I can't walk with you any farther than the gates of this house, so you will have to find your own way," the blond boy told him.

The man known formerly 'as the demon of the mist' escaped his life as a nuke nin that day and he disappeared from the face of the world from that day forward.

Xxxx

_The next day_

Haku woke up from her bed with a startled cry. She tossed the sheets off her body and hastily snatched an alarm clock placed next to her bed. '7.30,' it read. 'Zabuza-sama must still be sleeping,' she thought. 'I'll just go to his room and talk to him about his plans.'

"Ohayo, Haku-chan," Tsunami cheerfully greeted as she met the girl.

"Ohayo, Tsunami-san. Have you… seen Zabuza-sama?" she asked.

"Hmmm, I think he went out last night," the woman answered.

"He did? Where? Was he with Tsurugi-san?" Haku asked frantically as she shook Tsunami's shoulder.

"Y-yes, he did. He didn't tell me where he went to, but he told me to let you know you shouldn't worry. Tsurugi-san is still here, but I don't know if he went with Zabuza-san last night," she said.

Haku hung her head after she heard the news. She was very confused. Did Zabuza really leave? What if Kakashi lied and Naruto really killed him?

"Haku-chan? What's the matter?" Tsunami asked, placing her hand on Haku's shoulder to ease her.

"I… I'm fine, Tsunami-san. Is… is Tsurugi-san…"

"He's still here; I think he's in the forest just several meters away from here, watching over Kakashi-san's team training."

"Thank you, Tsunami-san."

Xxxx

Naruto watched Kakashi training his still able-bodied students train and frankly, he was not impressed, disappointed even. "Pathetic," he muttered from his position, high on top a tree.

"It is," the scarecrow answered. "I taught many things and none of them understand or even do what I told them to properly."

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe it was your fault they failed to live up to your standards?" the blond asked nonchalantly. "Many of my peers adore your intelligence, but not teaching skills."

"No, it's not that. They just suck. I know it," the tall jounin said pridefully.

The living weapon didn't respond and turned his head towards the source of the voice that called his code name. "Tsurugi-san," the voice called again.

"Oh boy," the copy nin said. "You'd better go to her. I think it's because that guy you smuggled last night."

The blond shrugged dismissively and went to Haku.

Xxxx

"Where is Zabuza-sama?" Haku demanded as she placed a senbon needle in front of Naruto's neck.

"He went to the Temple of Fire in Fire Country. I thought you heard it when you eavesdropped on us," the blue eyed boy answered.

"I did, but I don't trust you."

"Suit yourself. Maybe it'd be better if you go to his room."

Xxxx

Haku went to Zabuza's room as Naruto advised her to and was half surprised, half heartbroken. True to his words, Zabuza wasn't present in the room or any other rooms she had looked into. The black haired girl swept her eyes across the room and found a large wooden box tied with a red string.

She approached the box, which was placed on the single bed in the room and cautiously opened it. Inside it were Kubikiri Houcho and its training manual, a sword polish, a whetstone, and a letter.

Then, she realised that Tsunami and Naruto was honest, but she couldn't find a proof that Naruto didn't kill Zabuza, hid his body, cleaned the room and acted innocent.

She left it at that and decided to trust the blond, for now.

Xxxx

"So, do you trust me now?" Naruto asked as he saw Haku walking down the stairs.

"For now," she said venomously. "I read his letter."

"And? How does it concern me?" the blue eyed boy asked.

"You were mentioned in it," she answered.

"I see. Take a seat; this might be a long conversation.

"So tell me, what did it say?"

"He told me to go with you and not to worry about him."

"Then do it, I thought you trusted Zabuza."

"I do, but how do I know that the letter isn't forged by you; you killed him, and hid his body somewhere?"

"How do you know that I don't?

"You have no proof that I helped him escape, but you also have no proof that I did otherwise."

"Fine, I'll go with what the letter told me," Haku said sternly, "But if I find out that all of this is a lie, I'll kill you."


	9. Chapter 8

**A.N.:** I know the update is very, very slow and I apologize deeply to all of you who enjoyed this story (and hopefully you still do). This chapter will be about Haku's first few days in Konoha and as a new shinobi of Konoha. In the next chapter, they will go to Oto and carry out a 'special' mission there. Please read and review. The poll result is at the end of the chapter and will be stopped in about... 3 or 4 more chapters.

So, here it is, the next chapter of Konoha no Tsurugi.

**Chapter eight: New in the Roster**

Kakashi's team had to stay in Nami no Kuni for about three months because the bridge's building progressed slowly, but still, it was progress. During the time, Sasuke had healed his injury but still had a damaged ego and needed much time to get used to the fact that he wasn't the best before he could act normally again.

In three months, the silver haired jounin's irritation to his team also grew. Sasuke wouldn't stop sulking, Sakura would always fawn over Sasuke and Seki would always complain about everything.

Again, he wondered why he took up the Hokage's offer for him to take a genin team; after all he could always stay in ANBU and get more money. 'But if I don't that psycho's gonna be the one who'll teach them,' he mused again.

Maybe, letting that crazy woman Anko teach these brats was a better option than having to deal with the periodic headaches he usually had. The scarecrow was considering pestering Naruto so the living weapon would give the brats a good scare, just for the hell of it.

Alas, his hopes were crushed when he saw a purple haired woman wearing khaki trench coat, mesh shirt, and mini skirt who went by the name Mitarashi Anko.

"Kakashi! Where's Tsurugi-san?" she asked brashly to the silver haired jounin.

"Um? He's inside, why do you ask?"

Kakashi never got his answer because Anko had ignored him and just entered the house.

Xxxx

_Inside Tazuna's House_

Naruto was polishing his numerous weapons, checking them for scratches or unwanted gashes and ridges. He knew they were made from the best materials; after all he was the one who requested what they were made of. But still, checking the well being of his gadgets and 'tools of trade' was a relaxing past time for him, and it wasn't a waste of time either.

This was the only thing that he did outside the necessities of humans and his nearly neverending missions; and sadly, the peace that it built was about to be broken by one woman: Mitarashi Anko.

"Tsurugi!" the woman called out after she politely told Tsunami and Tazuna that she was a co-worker of the Konoha-nin.

Naruto looked up to Anko's scowling face and took off his mask, showing the near emotionless smile he always had on his face. The woman smiled in turn before she glomped him.

"Hello, Anko-san," the boy greeted, not stopping his activities.

"Hey, Ken-chan." (Explanation: Ken and Tsurugi basically have the same kanji, but have different kana)

"It's been lonely without you," she purred out.

"Has it? I've never noticed," he replied. "Now, I believe you are here for a reason, a very good one, correct?"

"Oh yeah!" she yelled out, and instantly releasing him. "The Hokage told me to give this letter to you."

Naruto wordlessly accepted the letter and read it carefully, trying to find the hidden messages should there be one or more. Finally, after confirming the letter's contents, he folded it back and stood up.

"Where're you going?" Anko asked.

"Back to Konoha. That letter was a letter of summons. I must hurry back."

"Ok, need me to help you pack?"

"No, that's fine."

Xxxx

"Haku, pack your things," Naruto told her as he began sealing the numerous weapons he laid out on the floor.

The black haired girl looked up to him and gave him an angry look before she complied and put the items inside her traveller's pack.

Anko peered into the room and noticed the not so thoroughly cleaned scent of blood in their room. And with her keen senses, she estimated there were blood scents of 40 different people; could it be that was the amount of people he had killed?

Xxxx

_Konohagakure no Sato, Hokage's office, about 1600 hours_

The old Hokage was watching the bustling road of Konoha when a knock came from his door. He beckoned the door guard to open the door and saw three people he wanted to see: Naruto, Anko, and Haku.

As soon as the door was closed, Sarutobi greeted them all warmly, but proffesionally and told them all to sit down.

"So, you are Haku, I presume?" the old man started.

"Yes, I am, Hokage-sama."

"And you are willing to join Konohagakure as Tsurugi's letter stated?"

"Yes."

"Very well, you will be put as part Na… Er hrm…Tsurugi's team in a special recon mission that will start at exactly one week from now, so get ready," the Proffesor told them.

The three stood from their seats after excusing themselves from Sarutobi. The ladies left, but Naruto still remained in the room, knowing full well that the leader of this village must have wanted to tell him something.

"I forgot to tell you something, Tsurugi.

"As of today, at exactly 1600 hours, you are transferred from Konoha's secret ANBU unit 'Ne', to my direct underling. So, you only do missions for me and Konoha, not Danzou or Ne."

The living weapon bowed respectfully at the old man and turned on his heels to leave the room.

Xxxx

"This is not what we agreed on, Hokage-sama," Danzou said through gritted teeth.

"Is it? Then refresh my memory of what our agreement was," the Hokage said.

The one eyed leader of the 'Ne' division of ANBU felt like a fool for doing it, but recited it anyway. "Anyone from my division may not be transferred unless he/she is deemed worthy to be chosen by the current Hokage as his personal aide."

"And I did just that. So, in what way did I break our agreement?"

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, you've just taken our village's most valuable asset!"

"Our village's asset or your stepping stone to your ambition?" the old man asked sternly.

The one eyed militarist growled in anger and left the room with a quick pace before he finally slammed the door.

Xxxx

_Hokage's secretary desk_

"Tsurugi-san, Hokage-sama asked me to give this to you," the woman said when she saw Naruto pass her desk with a young lady.

"What is it?"

"A key for your new apartment. Since you have been transferred, Hokage-sama believed that it'd be better if your residence is near here," she said as she rummaged through her desk for the keys.

After she finally found it, the woman turned to Naruto and gave it to him along with a note. "The address is listed on the note. Your things had also been moved there with the exact same position as your old one."

The living weapon nodded and left the building hurriedly with Haku running behind him to keep the pace.

Xxxx

_Naruto's new apartment_

The blond boy looked around his new apartment and nodded in satisfaction. The room looked almost exactly like his old one, only larger and and it was on a higher floor.

"Take any room you want but the one with a skull on the door," Naruto told Haku as he looked around the room, examining every nook and cranny of the spacious accomodation.

The black haired girl said nothing and looked for a room. Without thinking, she opened one with a skull doorknob. When the door fully opened, Haku saw a Spartan room, filled with nothing but a bed with white sheets, a single lamp, and a small table near the window. She walked to the table and opened the drawers. Inside one of them was a photo album.

Curiously, she scanned through the pages and saw pictures of Naruto, with small words scribbled under it. A particular one was a picture of Naruto, a young girl and the Hokage inside a ramen stand. They looked happy together and the Naruto in the picture couldn't be older than five.

The black haired girl was slightly happy to find a source of information regarding her new colleague. But, before she could open another page, a scythe was thrown at her and it hit the table through the photo album.

"What have I told you about the room with a skull on the door?" the blond boy asked.

In every occasion where Haku had seen Naruto, this the only time she had seen, no _felt_ him angry. And the rage wasn't because she had ignored his request, but it was because she had found something he had wanted to get rid of since the start of his shinobi career; a link to the past.

"Get out," he ordered.

Haku begrudgingly did so and went in search of another room in the large apartment; hopefully this time it had no skulls anywhere.

Xxxx

_Later that night_

The former apprentice of Momochi Zabuza lay awake in her bed, her mind was thinking about what to do: get some sleep, lay out plans to steal that photo album which hopefully contained useful information regarding Naruto, or plot to kill the living weapon who had made her sensei disappear.

Finally, after minutes of tossing and turning, she finally gave up and got herself some sleep. Maybe tomorrow, she would know what to do.

Xxxx

_Kuzushi family weapon shop_

"How much for the usual, Kuzushi-san?" Naruto asked to the older man. Through the years, his shop had expanded and it had turned from a small family shop into a large store dealing in numerous items, including scrolls, special drugs, and of course weapons.

Tenzen examined the weapon he held in his hands thoroughly and nodded. "This sword isn't half bad, but it won't endure the treatment you usually do with weapons. For this weapon, I'd recommend combining this with the others you got. It's gonna cost you…. 45,000 ryou. Fifty if you want it done quick, and another extra 10 if you want it to be extremely durable."

"Very well, I trust your judgement in this," the living weapon said as he put the sufficient amount of money on the counter.

Naruto then scanned the shop briefly and found a glaive that caught his attention. The weapon was 5 feet in total length, the blade and hilt was of the same length with a large ring attached to the end of the hilt. The glaive was pure black with a curved broad blade that didn't reflect light.

"How much for that?" Naruto asked, pointing at the glaive.

"That's 75,000. 120,000 if you want the full works on her," Tenzen said as he too admired the weapon. "I'm surprised you haven't noticed it any sooner."

"The price doesn't matter. Deliver it to me in the same time as my sword," the blond said.

He then turned to leave, but before he could step outside, a sword flashed in the corner of his eyes. With lightning quick reflex, he rolled to the side and drawed Kouga from his cloak.

He stood up and leveled a glare towards his assailant, the daughter of Kuzushi Tenzen. The young girl propelled herself with her right leg and thrust her sword at the living weapon.

Naruto parried the strike with Kouga and blocked a left kick aimed at his side with a knee. Both parties then leapt away from each other and Tenten glared at Naruto.

"Damn you," she said, "I swear I will defeat you."

Naruto ignored her for a moment, but finally said to her, "Then train harder. Your moves looked impenetrable at a glance, yet it bore a fatal mistake beginners make."

Then, the living weapon turned on his back and walked away, leaving a distraught girl and an amused man alone in the store.

Xxxx

Haku watched Naruto's action inside the shop from afar and began to unconsciously compare his skills to her abilities. And, in shame she had to admit that the blond's proficiency surpassed her greatly. In the very short fight, she noticed Naruto's arms and legs muscles twitched almost 30 times; meaning he almost lashed out powerful and most possibly lethal force against the girl but he could stop the reflexes, signifying his near perfect control over his own body. 'At this rate, I won't be able to kill him,' she thought. 'Unless…'

Xxxx

Naruto scanned his sorroundings and felt a presence from a roof top approximately 20 meters away from him. The presence felt familiar to him, but he dismissed it as paranoia.

Xxxx

Haku followed Naruto to a secluded alleyway in the northern sector of Konoha, the slums of the village to be exact. The blond took a left turn and the girl followed behind him, waiting for the perfect chance to throw the senbon needle in her hand; the same one that had Naruto's blood on it.

The brunette followed Naruto closely, watching and following every turn and jumps he made. She lost sight of him briefly, but it made her loose track of him and he disappeared from his sight.

The former protégé of Zabuza cursed under her breath and turned to return to her quarters in Naruto's apartment, but her steps were stopped by the smiling face of Naruto who had discarded his mask.

The face looked happy and calm, yet the emotions it generated were far from it as it exuded such a great feeling of dread and fear to her. "T… Tsurugi," she croaked out.

"Haku," he greeted back as he drew his saber from underneath his cloak, "Why are you following me?"

Haku stared back at him for a few seconds before she disappeared in a puddle of water.

"Mizu bunshin," Naruto muttered after he dipped his fingers in the puddle and sniffed it. "That woman is a liability. And every liability… must be annihilated."

The blond swiped his fingers on a chimney closeby and prepared to give pursuit before he noticed that a senbon was sailing towards him in a very high speed. Letting his natural instinct to react, he let loose three wind blades that severed the thin needle into six separate, identical pieces which now fell to the ground harmlessly.

"Weapon thrown from distance of 30 feet, aimed to the heart, 20 degree angle. Assailant spotted," Naruto muttered mechanically as he turned his face to the north east and put on his fox mask, "Beginning assault."

With that, he ran towards the direction where his supposed assassin was; intent on severing the fool from limb to limb and he had a very good idea who it was.

**Vote Results:**

Anko (the bloodthirsty people) 48

Shizune (a healer and a killer) 24

Ino (the psycopath and the possible psychiatrist) 13

Female Haku (a tool and a weapon) 52

Tenten (weapon mistress and living weapon) 46

OC (for this, you have to tell me which village you want her from) 5

Ayame 4

Hana 9

Kin 10

Yugito 4

Kurenai 5

Hinata (with different personality)1

**Closing notes: **Thank you for reading, and I would really appreciate it if you review too. Thanks again


	10. Chapter 9

**A.N.:** I'm very sorry for the slow update, But I'd been facing final tests, seveal tests before that, and a whole load of assignments and other stuff, so I can't even try to update because when I tried to write something, the idea was absent. Luckily, I don't have that problem anymore. In this chapter, there are 3 surprise appearances from 3 females. Guess who.

**Answers for some Reviews**

Avatarofrage: It is, I know. But I do believe that I posted this before 'Lost Soul', but I don't know, I might be wrong.

AznPuffyHair: It's short because it only contains personal thoughts or schemings, but you're right. I'll try to draw it out more a little. Huge weapons? Because I like it, and because I think that if ninja's can wield them swiftly and effieciently, they'll be very formidable.

QundraDraconum: I know, but it's pretty much inspired by my brother's experience, he dated a girl he hated. I tried to make Naruto more human little by little, and he's pretty much more brutal and crazier compared to when Tayuya tried to kill him. I'll try to put more character development scenes and I'll need many ideas for this, can you help me?

XllShadowllX: Haku's death is determined by the votes. If she looses, I'll think whether she lives of dies.

Reall Frozen Phoenix: I know, a big mistake. I made the repair, though. Look at it now.

**Chapter 9: Special recon unit**

Naruto chased the assassin feverously, all the while noting his sorroundings and footing. The assassin was only ninety feet away, he surmised. It was easy for him to eliminate the target from that range, but he needed him/her for questioning. Just as he stepped on the roof a house, a voice called out to him.

The voice was that of a woman's, a mature one to be exact. And it wasn't Anko. So who was it? He thought. There was only one other woman he knew was rather concerned about his mental health and if his memories served right, she was supposed to be out with her team.

"Tsurugi!" she called out.

Sensing the franticness of her voice, he brought himself to a halt and turned to her. "This had better be important, Yuuhi-san," he said to her in a cold voice.

The voice she heard was very different compared to the voice she used to hear when he was a child. She should know, given that the boy used to go to her whenever he was injured.

Xxxx

_**Flashback**_

A twenty five year old Yuuhi Kurenai had just finished taking a bath when she heard a knocking from her door.

'That's strange,' she thought, 'the only one who would knock at this hour is Asuma, but he's away on a mission.'

"Coming," she yelled to the person from the door as she took a kunai from her gear pouch and held it in reverse grip to hide it from view.

The red eyed woman approached the door slowly and wall hugged the wall near the doorknob, then opened the door a little to observe the 'visitor'. To her surprise, a blond boy fell face forward to her floor and muttered a small 'Help me.' before he passed out.

Yuuhi Kurenai was known as a warm hearted woman, but a kunoichi first and foremost. So, trusting her instincts, she cast a paralyzing jutsu to the boy before she lifted him from the ground and set him on her queen-sized bed.

The boy, she observed was covered in cuts and bruises. None were deep nor life threatening alone, but there were almost a hundred of them all over his body; it could kill him with bloodloss if not treated quickly.

Seeing that there was nothing to lose should she help the boy, she went to her medicine cabinet and took a bottle of alcohol, a roll of bandages, and several bandaids. She did everything she could to help the poor little boy.

Xxxx

The boy came to several hours after he stumbled to her door and woke up drearily. Seeing the unfamiliar ceiling, he surmised that he was in another room in the hospital until a woman's voice called him.

"Oh? You're awake, I thought it would take later until you can wake up."

"I… I've been in worse conditions. I think I've gotten used to it," Naruto said, suppressing a grimace of pain caused by his left arm.

"I see. What's your name? I don't think I've ever seen you around before," Kurenai said warmly.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto,…"

"Yuuhi Kurenai, pleasure to be of acquaintance," she said, offering her hand.

Unsure of what to do, Naruto accepted the hand and shook it.

"I think," she said, "We will see a lot of each other."

_End Flashback_

Xxxx

"Hokage-sama summoned you," Kurenai said after she took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Summoned me?" Naruto asked back. "Very well."

"Wait, Tsurugi," the red eyed woman called to him before he used shunshin no jutsu. "I'll go with you."

Xxxx

_The trip to the Hokage's office_

"I was worried about you," Kurenai started.

"I'm perfectly fine. There is no need to be concerned about my well being," Naruto replied.

"Yeah, but after that one time you showed up on my door, I can't help but think that I'm responsible for you, you know."

"I am already considered an adult. You don't need the extra burden, neither do I need a guardian."

"I know, but still…"

"We all have our own roles to fulfill, Yuuhi-san. And being concerned about me is not one of yours," the blond stopped her as they both reached the Hokage's office.

"Let me worry about myself," he said with finality before he went in and closed the doors, not turning back.

"I can't do that," Kurenai whispered. "Not after I've seen what you could do."

Xxxx

_Hokage's office, 1640 hrs_

"Have you called for me, Hokage-sama?" the living weapon asked.

"I did. It's concerning your new mission, I thought I should break it up to you, Naruto-kun.

"Your mission," he said as he leaned forward and steepled his hands in front of his face, "Is to get as many information as you can about the new village, Otogakure and if possible, bring one of the residents back. _Alive_."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Naruto said as he knelt down, one fist to the ground and his head bowed.

"The time limit for this mission is three months. You _must_ get back here exactly one week before the chuunin exams, if not earlier.

"Your partner for this will be the girl you brought back, Haku."

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama; I believe she is not appropriate to accompany me in this mission."

"Why is that?"

"Because I believe she may try to jeopardize the mission by allowing her personal feelings get involved."

"She still doesn't trust you, is that what you mean?"

"Yes, sir."

At this, the old man sighed and took a long drag of his pipe then continued, "Despite your status as a living weapon, you are one of the most persuasive people I've seen. Your methods of convincing, although extreme was arguably most efficient. Which lead me to believe that if anyone can make her join us, that person would be you."

"Thank you for the praise, Hokage-sama."

"I almost forgot… before you go, there is one more thing I need you to do."

Xxxx

_Forest outside of Konoha, 2000 hrs_

A gray haired man was panting hard, his head continously turned back and forth; searching for any pursuers if there are any. In his embrace was a large scroll that was valuable to Konohagakure no Sato: the forbidden scroll.

'Heh, I don't think they'd follow me this far,' he thought after several minutes' wait. 'Might as well make a run for it now.'

He stood up from his position and decided to make a run for it before he heard a voice calling out to him. "Mizuki, chuunin of Konohagakure. You have comitted a crime towards Konoha. For this act of treason, you are sentenced to death without trial. Surrender your life peacefully and I will make your punishment as painless as possible."

"No way," the gray haired man said confidently. "With the new jutsu I learned from this scroll, not even Konoha no Tsurugi can stop me!

"Try this: Tajuu kage bunshin no jutsu!"

Instantly, five hundred Mizuki's appeared before Naruto's eyes, but he didn't falter; after all he knew about that jutsu way before this insignificant chuunin did.

"Let's see how tough you are, Konoha no Tsurugi!" Mizuki yelled.

"Futile," the living weapon whispered. "Fuuken: Zan!"

A large wind blade was shot out from Naruto's position, cutting down several branches and the occasional tree top, but it did its original purpose: destroying Mizuki's clone army.

When the clone onslaught was finished, Mizuki smirked; he knew he could create more just to beat the shit out of Naruto and he knew the living weapon's position. It'd be a cakewalk.

What he didn't know however was the fact that Naruto was closer than he thought. Just as Mizuki was about to focus his chakra to make another clone army, suddenly two hands appeared from the ground.

"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no jutsu," Naruto said calmly as he walked to Mizuki, his mask still in place.

"What? How could you pull this off?" Mizuki yelled in confusion.

"Kage Bunshin," Naruto answered as he summoned a staff from his gloves. "And do not try to offer me anything. What I want, you are in no position to give."

With unrivaled efficiency, Naruto swung his long pole and struck the chuunin's head right on the skull, shattering it beyond recognition.

"Now, to deal with Haku…." The blond muttered.

Xxxx

_Naruto's apartment, 1700 hrs_

Haku had arrived hours earlier and was currently trying feverously to lockpick the door to Naruto's desolate room. The doorknob had 4 keyholes; that much she knew, but she didn't know how to open it. She tried one of the holes, the one inside the skull's mouth, but she failed; eventhough she heard the click. Then she tried the ones inside the skull's eyes and it still didn't open. Finally, when she tried to open the one in the skull's nose, she felt the coldness of a blade on her neck.

"Tsurugi," she croaked out.

"Haku, what are you doing?" Naruto asked calmly. "I thought I told you to stay away from my room."

"I'm not really a good listener," she answered defiantly.

"Is that so? Well, you would better listen more carefully then," he said coldly before he slit her throat.

Xxxx

_Naruto's apartment, 2030 hrs_

Haku woke up from her dream with cold sweat. That dream seemed so real, it wasn't funny. She laughed awkwardly, trying to ease her nerves. Absentmindedly, her hand reached to her neck and rubbed it.

'Something wet on my neck?' she thought. She fearfully retracted her hand while closing her eyes, hoping it wasn't blood. After several moments, she opened her eyes and saw blood.

Forgetting her ninja training, she screamed loudly.

Xxxx

'It seems she's awake,' Naruto thought. 'I should greet her.'

Xxxx

In her fearful daze, Haku didn't realize Naruto entering her room and still, with the ever present smile he greeted her. "Haku," he said calmly.

"Tsurugi," she greeted back. "What are you doing?"

"This is my home, I have every right to do what I desire, do I not?

"But, that is irrelevant at present. You see, there is something I want you to answer. Was it or was it not you who threw this?" he asked as he held up six pieces of the severed senbon.

Haku was rather hestitant when she answered, but she answered, "No."

"No?" Naruto seemed like he wanted to continue his interrogation, but he decided to postpone it and move to a more important matter. "Very well, let us leave it at that. We have a bigger issue at the moment.

"You will accompany me to a recon mission in Otogakure, starting three more days. You are to bring whatever is necessary. Pack lightly; we want to mingle with the crowd and gather information from within. Understand?"

The black haired girl looked at the blue eyed boy hardly before she finally nodded. "Good," he said as he turned to leave. "And by the way, that was a pretty feminine scream."

Haku was flustered and furious when he said that, something that was indicated by her action of hiding under the sheets of her bed. Then, realizing she had been mocked, she threw several more senbon needles to the blonde. But, the door stopped the weapons in its path.

After calming down her senses, she realized she hadn't asked the living weapon a rather important question regarding her neck and the blood on it. She cursed herself at her foolishness, but left the matter. After all, there were other chances for her to question him.

Xxxx

_Outside Haku's Room_

"Thank you for your help, Shizune-sempai," Naruto said to the black haired woman in the living room.

"It was nothing, Tsurugi-san," she said as she sipped her tea. "I was just in the neighborhood."

"Tsunade-sama is running away from her debt collectors, I presume?"

"Yes. It's getting worse; they seem to get smarter each time this happens."

"I see what you mean. Where is she?"

"Uuuuhh…"

"Ooouuch! Ouch! Ouch! Aaah, that's nice," a voice from his bathroom said. "Hey, doesn't this guy have any scented shampoo or soap? Shizune, can you get me my toiletries?"

"In my bathroom I suppose?" Naruto asked calmly, knowing the blond woman's trait.

The black haired woman nodded hestitantly, rather ashamed of her mistress' habits.

"Shizune, where are my shampoo and soap?! Hurry up!" the voice from his bathroom yelled again.

"Uh, Tsurugi-san, please excuse me."

The living weapon didn't answer, but he inclined his head, excusing her. The black haired woman rummaged through her bags for her mistress' items and finally found it. Wordlessly, she walked to the bathroom and knocked on the door.

"Finally, what took you so long?" the buxom woman asked impatiently.

Shizune didn't answer, but pointed towards the ever smiling exANBU who was sitting crosslegged on the couch of his living room.

"Ah, Tsurugi," Tsunade greeted sheepishly.

"Greetings, Tsunage-sama. It has been a long time since I last seen you."

"Tsurugi, nice to see you so… smiley."

"I am always the same, Tsunade-sama. And it seems you are too."

Xxxx

_Later that night, after Naruto made sure Haku's sleeping_

"So, you're telling me that you'll be going for some unknown time and you want us to take care of your place?" Tsunade asked.

"Actually, only Shizune-sempai because I know for a fact that you will do no such thing," Naruto answered.

The buxom woman felt insulted, but let it slide. Everytime she wanted to beat him he would evade successfully, so there wasn't really any point to try to punch him.

"And… I want you to keep an eye out for Hokage-sama," the living weapon continued.

"What? You think someone's out for live?"

"Yes. It will not matter who will be trying to take our leader out of the picture, but we must make sure."

"Correction, Tsurugi. Only you. Last I checked, I don't have that responsibility."

"Oh, but you do. You see, you owe me something."

"Really? I thought Shizune healing that girl you almost killed paid the debt."

"No, that made me owe her something, but not to you. I still remember your debts to me; each one of them. And it will be bad publication for one of Konoha's most renowned kunoichi, will it not?"

"Are you blackmailing me?"

"Say what you will, you still owe me many things. Just do what I asked you to, and I will not bring this matter up."

"Fine, fine. Just tell me where the liquor cabinet is."

"Perfect. I thank you, Tsunade-sama."

Xxxx

_Three days later_

Naruto and Haku stood at the front of the entrance, saying goodbye to Tsunade and Shizune. After reminding Shizune where the cleaning supplies, dressers, hidden traps, and laundry were; Naruto turned to Tsunade to tell her where the hangover medicine, liquor cabinet, and spare sheets just in case she puked all over hers.

Shizune asked the blond boy whether he had forgotten something, after confirming the condition of his supplies, he bid them farewell and went to Otogakure.

**Vote Results:**

Anko (the bloodthirsty people) 63

Shizune (a healer and a killer) 28

Ino (the psycopath and the possible psychiatrist) 16

Female Haku (a tool and a weapon) 62

Tenten (weapon mistress and living weapon) 55

OC (for this, you have to tell me which village you want her from) 5

Ayame 6

Hana 12

Kin 12

Yugito 5

Kurenai 7

Hinata (with different personality)2

Yugao 1

**A.N.: **As you can see, Anko's in the lead, followed closely by Haku and Tenten. This got me thinking: Should there be more than 1 winner? If there should, how many? (4's max) One last thing, If you vote, please put it for the last chapter. Thank you for Reading and Reviewing.


	11. Chapter 10

**A.N. : **Yo, it's me again. I know, I know. Very slow update. But I've gotten myself a lot of work I found it hard to update. But, anyway, this's the next chapter. Several reviews are answered in this chapter.

To kaptin-hippy: a friend of mine suggested it. i thought 'yeah, why not?' apparently the idea wasn't well taken

To scman87: thank you, i try hard. hopefully you'll continue reading this fic.

To Eoghain: I know, i forgot about it, but it's answered in this chapter.

To Kage Hitokiri Kitsune: He could make gusts and the like, it's shown here.

To Junky: Yeah. Thanks for the info. They won't beat him, though, don't worry

To Keiji-sama: Thank you and I will.

To Avatarofrage: Uh huh, that's a good idea. I'll do that.

To konradamkool: Ouch, that stung a little. But I probably asked for it, huh? The reason is in this chapter.

To the other reviewers, I thank you. The poll results is on the bottom of the chapter.

**Chapter 10: Infiltrating Oto, Returning a Favour**

_The road to Otogakure, approximately 5 days away from Oto_

Naruto and Haku were running at top speed from Konoha to Oto, so it was really not a surprise that the black haired girl seemed winded, not to mention she lacked sleep and rest. It was a wonder to herself that she hadn't collapsed in fatigue.

Yet, after three days of travel, Naruto began to gradually slow their pace to the current rate they were in: 8 hours of sleep, 10 times pause and/or rest 5 minutes each, 3 meals a day, 30 kms per day.

The beautiful girl often wondered in this trip whether she should ask the living weapon what was on his mind, seeing that his behaviour was quite odd in their travel.

The curiosity was bugging her and the need to know grew with each passing second, but she endured. She must be patient to have what she wanted. As night falls, Haku saw that Naruto was reading a book titled: 'Intermediate Human Interactions.'

Out of curiosity, she dared herself to ask, "Why do you need to read that?"

The boy turned towards her, but said nothing and continued reading. He had too many things in mind and he judged that the question was rhetoric.

"Hey, answer me!" she yelled.

"That was not an important question, so I surmised you had something else you wanted to ask. So, you would better ask the real question," Naruto answered in an annoyed manner, which was quite unnoticable to normal people.

"Okay. Then answer this: What's in your mind?"

"Something that doesn't concern you in any way or manner," the living weapon said as he marked his book and closed it.

"We're partners in this mission. I don't want you to mess up because you got distracted by something that's not important."

"Konshakudan (Soul Burning Pill)," the boy started in a solemn manner. "Ever heard of it?"

"A forbidden drug that increases one's chakra output by at least 20,000 then kills the user if the antidote isn't consumed within 30 seconds. Is that what you mean?" Haku said.

"Correct."

"What about it?"

"Someone has gotten hold of one. Without anyone's knowing, something that should have been impossible. There is only one Konshakudan in Konoha and it still exists. That means the pill comes from outside. The question that remains: Who supplied it and why."

"That's what got you so riled up?" Haku asked casually.

"That is important for Konoha, so yes."

"And how do you know this guy uses a konshakudan?"

"No human's chakra is enough to make 500 kage bunshin's. He did."

"Okay, fine enough. Now tell me this: Did you or did you not cut my throat when I tried to go into your room?"

"What do you think?"

"You did."

After hearing her response, Naruto nodded his head, opened his book, and started reading again.

"Why?" Haku asked.

"Why what?"

"Why did you cut my throat then patch me up? There's just no point in it."

"Think what you will," he said calmly.

"You still haven't answered my question."

Naruto looked at her, sighed, then marked his book and closed it again. "People like you," he said. "Are too stubborn for your own good. The only way the mind will learn is probably by making the body learn."

"So you almost killed me just for making sure I wouldn't go back into your room?" Haku half yelled, being wary of their position.

"Among other things," Naruto stated calmly.

"Other things? What other things?"

"That's enough questions for one day. Go to sleep. Tomorrow we must travel faster to reach Otogakure in time."

Xxxx

_Otogakure, 5 days later, daybreak_

"Halt, stranger!" the guard yelled. "State your business in Otogakure."

"We are travellers looking for lodging and supplies. Can we enter?" Naruto yelled back.

The gate guard looked back to his partner and discussed it briefly. Finally, after about 2 minutes, the gates opened and the guard yelled, "Come in, welcome to Otogakure no Sato."

Naruto and Haku nodded in appreciation and entered the gates quickly so that the guards wouldn't be able to see them too clearly.

Xxxx

_Orochimaru's private compound_

"Orochimaru-sama, there is a message from the gate guards," a ninja said, as he ripped a long sheet of paper from a printer. "It said that there are 2 travellers, one male and the other female, who have just entered the village."

"I see," the serpentine man said. "Any details?"

"Not in particular, sir. He just said that the female had black hair, and the other's face was concealed with bandages.

"Umm, sir. There's just a new message," the messenger continued. "He said that they both stayed at the Shirohebi (White Snake) inn."

"I see. Keep me informed," the snake sannin said. "I have a feeling those two might not be any ordinary traveller."

"What do you think, Orochimaru?" a man's voice asked from the shadows.

"They might be the two Konoha nin's you told me about, but there are no proofs as of yet. And I do not like spending any resources on gut feelings alone," came the reply. "Unless you have anything you want to add, Danzou."

"There is nothing I want to add, but let me make a prediction of their moves," the one eyed man said as he stepped into the lights. "They will stay for one full week. For the first four they will gather information from the locals, asking questions, interviewing and the like. Then, at the fifth night, you will notice that your tool store will close early because someone has bought many things. At the sixth day, they will not be seen by anyone. When night falls they will come here, taking and/ or copying files and making maps. Finally they will leave on the seventh day before noon."

"And how do you know about all this?"

"Simple, I was the one who made this Konoha's standard infiltration and reconnaissance procedure."

Xxxx

_Streets of Otogakure, the next day_

Tayuya of the Sound Four walked casually through the streets, ignoring the occasional greetings and bows the villagers gave to her when she passed them by. Nothing was on her mind; she was just taking a stroll, getting some fresh air. In her mind, any air was better than the damp air of the cave where Orochimaru and his top subordinates resided.

However, the absence of thought was gone when she passed a man whose face was bandaged heavily, disabling her to see any distinct features he might had. When both of them passed each other, she felt something she hadn't in a very long time: fear, the same kind of fear she felt when the assassination attempt done to Konoha no Tsurugi failed.

She turned to follow the bandaged man, but he was gone. Cursing her luck, but thanking the heavens above at the same time, she followed the direction she thought he went to.

Xxxx

Tayuya jumped to the rooftops, hoping the height would give her a better view. She scanned the area several times, but couldn't find anything. When she was about to give up, however, a freezing sensation formed all around her until she realized that she was sorrounded by a dome of ice mirrors.

The red head reached to her flute and put it to her lips, but before she could make a single note, a senbon needle flew to her neck. The attack would have knocked her out had she not activated her level 2 cursed seal and caught the weapon.

"Who the fuck?" she cursed after she deactivated her cursed seal and the dome of ice mirrors disappeared.

A silhouette of a man in black ANBU appeared from behind a big water tank directly behind her. "Remember me, Tayuya of the North Gate?" an ice cold voice spoke.

"Heh, it's hard to forget assholes like you, Konoha no Tsurugi!"

"Indeed it is, so is your attack on me those years ago." Naruto said calmly.

"What now then?"

"We settle that debt."

The living weapon unsealed his oldest weapon, a long metal staff, shaped like a bamboo pole, and struck her with it. The red head took out her flute and blocked the attack, while her other hand took out a kunai from her pouch and stabbed him.

The attack would've struck home had Naruto not parried the attack with his staff. Recovering from the parry, Tayuya followed up with a roundhouse kick aimed to the stomach.

Naruto blocked her kick with his staff by stabbing it to the ground and halted her leg on its path. Then, the blond jumped and kicked the girl in her chest. The red head stepped back a little, but the kick still touched her chest and it sent her tumbling back several inches. That was enough, however for Naruto to make a follow up attack. He shot out a strong compressed gust of wind towards her that hit her and knocked her out.

Xxxx

Tayuya woke up with a groan in an unfamiliar room. The room was probably about 7 by 7 feet with a wooden door right ahead of her and a cupboard to her far right. The red haired girl tried to move, but found out that she couldn't; maybe because she was tied up or maybe because she was drugged. Either way, it didn't matter. The point was she couldn't move, she couldn't help herself, she was fucked.

She waited for several moments and heard the door being opened. She hoped it was Naruto so she could give him a piece of her mind, but to her disappointment, it was a black haired girl whom she didn't recognize.

"Who're you?" Tayuya asked.

"Haku," the girl answered.

"And why're you here? More importantly, why're you with the living weapon?"

The black haired girl stayed silent, either not intent in answering or she just didn't have an answer. It confused her, though. She could just betray Naruto and sold him out to an Oto shinobi. She heard they had bad blood going on. Maybe the chance never presented itself?

Haku wasn't in the mood to answer any questions, so she walked out of the room and called for Naruto. Tayuya could hear sound of something heavy being put somewhere and chairs shuffling and the like, but she couldn't discern the amount of people in the room. Mainly because there were no conversation going on, but that shouldn't have hindered her hearing ability.

The red head waited several moments, after all, what could she do? Then, after what seemed to be eternity for the impatient girl, Naruto entered the room and greeted her as he smiled. "Hello, Tayuya."

Xxxx

_Outside the room_

Haku took out Kubikiri Houcho from a scroll she used to seal the giant weapon, along with its manual and began reading as she imagined the movements listed in the manual. Each technique was quite difficult for someone to master, she realized. Especially if one didn't have the muscles or strength required to wield the heavy blade easily.

This brought out a question in her mind. Why would anyone need a lot of physical strength to wield such a light weapon? And why were Kubikiri Houcho's technique mostly rely on brute power and sheer force? The blade wasn't that heavy, at least not for her.

Xxxx

_Inside the room_

"Hello yourself you fucking psycho," Tayuya hissed.

"Such a rude language coming from a lady. Do schools no longer teach manners?" Naruto asked calmly.

"They do. I just don't listen to them." The foul mouthed girl said.

"You should. Manners are quite important."

"Sez' you."

"That should've been 'so you say', Tayuya."

"Why are you here anyway? To teach me a proper way for a woman to speak?"

"Must you be so rude to an old colleague? After all, it's been such a long time since we last met," the living weapon chided. "But, let's get to business."

"I want you," Naruto said slowly as his smile disappeared from his face. "To tell me exactly what Otogakure is planning by sending a genin team to the chuunin exams."

"What are you, stupid? Of course it's because they want to get a promotion, what do you think?"

"Something along the lines of 'invasion' or 'assassination of public figure', but those are merely my pretenses."

For a moment, Tayuya's heart stopped beating before it resumed normally. It was only for a short moment, but it was enough for Naruto to acknowledge her approval of the question.

"I see I was correct."

"No you're not. I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to. Sleep now." He said as he tapped a pressure point on her neck and knocked her out.

Xxxx

_Outside the room_

Naruto walked out of the 'interrogation room' calmly and looked at the clock hung on the wall before he turned to Haku. "You can wander in the village for 3 hours, then you must return and get some rest. Tomorrow we will leave first thing in the morning, before the sun rises."

"Why? The mission's over?"

"Yes."

"I understand." The black haired girl said before she turned to the manual laid across her lap.

"You're not going out?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"No. It's already late and I think most of the stores are closed, anyway."

"Suit yourself." Naruto said, before he went into his room and closed the door with a bang.

Unbeknownst to him, Haku had an odd glint in her eye as she looked to the massive cleaver in her grip.

Xxxx

_Later at night, approximately 2200 hrs_

The door to Naruto's room opened slightly with a creak and a figure entered swiftly. In its grip was a large weapon. The figure walked carefully past the caltrops the blond had set on the floor earlier. It stalked towards the boy's side and raised the weapon it had on its grip, and then swung it down quickly, aimed right at the living weapon's neck.

Sensing the danger approaching, the boy spun to the side and evaded the weapon as he took out Kouga and blocked the weapon with its sickle. Seeing that it couldn't win in physical combat, the figure turned the lights in Naruto's room using a switch placed next to the bed.

Unadjusted to the light, the boy's eyes hurt a little and it slowed his reaction time. But he still saw the figure trying to run. This person's escape was unacceptable, but neither was his death. With a quite basic Fuuton Jutsu, the living weapon cast out a ball of compressed air that hit the figure on the back and sent it down.

"Impressive, Haku." Naruto said with a smile on his face.

"Damn you, making me train in this time of night. Don't you need any sleep?" Haku asked with irritation in her voice.

"I do, just not as much as a normal person does."

"Whatever. Can I sleep now?"

"Go ahead, remember to pack your things in the morning."

"What for? We'll still be here for another week, right?"

"Change of plans. We're going out of here first thing in the morning."

"Why?"

"Oto patrols are out on the street. Somebody leaked out our coming here."

Xxxx

**Vote Results:**

Anko (the bloodthirsty people) 82

Shizune (a healer and a killer) 33

Ino (the psycopath and the possible psychiatrist) 18

Female Haku (a tool and a weapon) 82

Tenten (weapon mistress and living weapon) 71

OC (for this, you have to tell me which village you want her from) 5

Ayame 7

Hana 13

Kin 15

Yugito 7

Kurenai 8

Hinata (with different personality)3

Yugao 2

Hanabi 1

**A.N.:** As you can see, the winners are: Anko, Haku, Tenten, and Shizune. And because most people asked for 4 winners, the 4 gets gets to be with Naruto in the end, along with Tayuya and Temari. And to answer several reviews, the first poll I had wasn't in vain.

Thank you very much. Read and Review please...


	12. Chapter 11

**A.N.: **Sorry for the very long update. I actually had this done several weeks ago and I asked one of my buddies to beta it. But he kept forgetting about it and... this happens. I apologize for this and I'll try to update sooner. Hopefully once I graduate from highschool in around 2 months. By the way, this chapter doesn't really have too much fights and actions, most of the contents here are for the opening for the next chapter. And the voting's already closed from last chapter

Another thing: I recently started to watch 'Kaze no Stigma'. Quite good, in my opinion and it sure gave me more ideas for Naruto's jutsu.

**Responds to Reviews:**

ConnectFire611: I'm not really sure what you mean. But if what you mean was that this fic had too many conversations, well I can't really change it. Sorry.

konradamkool: thank you very much for the positive review. I'll try my best.

Forever Rahhel & OmniscientOne: The original plan was to leave later, not immideately.

Big Daddy Cool: Ino will make an appearance in the next chapter, when the chuunin exam starts. Thanks, I always try to make something not cliche.I hope this fic isn't too.

EroEro-Kitsune: Thank you for the idea. I'll definitely use it. But, I have other plans for Seki. So, I don't think I'll kill him just yet.

battousai222: Thanks, I like it when people enjoy the stories I wrote.

haggis: You're right. He will be very confused with all the women. That'll be a surprise.

Johnhamsta: There'll be more in the next chapter.

lambtastic: Yeah, so many right? I'll try updating soon.

Darkfox123: I actually have another story that's currently under planning that'll be more heartless than this. I hope I can finish it by May.

**Chapter 11: Escape from Oto**

"What? How could this happen? I thought only the Hokage knew about this. Are you sure it's not your paranoia talking?" Haku asked angrily.

"Yes, I'm sure. I don't know how, and I don't care how. But there's a mole in Konoha and I want to know who."

"So, what now?" she asked after she calmed down a little.

"We go back now. Hopefully we can get out of here undetected."

"With 'that'?" Haku asked as she pointed to Tayuya with her thumb.

"Yes, with 'that'. Now, make haste. Time is running short."

Xxxx

_Outside of Shirohebi Inn_

"Are you sure they're here?" a rough looking ninja said.

"Yeah, there should be a blonde boy and a black haired girl inside, with our own Tayuya-san with them," another one said.

"Well, what we do to them after we neutralized them is unimportant, right?" one of his compaions asked.

"Hmm," the apparent leader nodded silently.

"Then let's get goin'. I wanna know get myself some nice girls," one of them said pervertedly.

Xxxx

"Is everything ready?" Naruto asked.

"Just get me a minute… done. Let's go," Haku said after she put all her bags inside a scroll.

The blond boy nodded before he felt something amiss. He motioned for Haku to stay on guard while he checked the door which was being knocked at. The living weapon looked to the light coming down from under the door and surmised that these people who had probably come for him were closing in.

So, without a second's delay, he twisted his body so that he was facing directly to the door, picked out a spear from his 'portable armory', so to speak and thrusted the weapon through the door.

In that second, one of the Oto-nin's got stabbed through the heart. Before his comrades even have the chance to react, another stab came, and another and another until there were 8 new holes in the shinobi's body.

Then, the first victim slumped down with wide open disbelieving eyes. The other shinobi's gaped at the sight of their fallen comrade, but even before they could react, a volley of wind blades were shot and without even a chance to blink, their heads were severed.

"It seems we must leave quicker than expected," Naruto said.

Haku nodded and threw a large duffel bag, big enough to fit a person inside, to him, which he caught with ease before the two ran away from the room and into the streets of Otogakure.

Xxxx

_Near the gates of Otogakure_

Jiro the sentry was feeling rather bored. As a ninja assigned as to be the gate guard, he was actually obliged to feel so. In the night, nothing was actually noteworthy. Though the stars were beautiful that night, he couldn't really appreciate it, given that he wasn't much of a naturalist. If he were given a choice, Jiro would've chosen to take a trip to a bar or a brothel compared to sitting there like an idiot any day of the week.

The young man sighed for the umpteenth time that night, cursing his luck for pulling the short straw that landed him on this uncomfortable station. With a light grunt, he stood up and decided to look into the village instead of out like he usually did.

In the distance, Jiro saw a pair of shadows running in top speed with what seemed to be a bag on one of the shadow's shoulder. He peered deeper into the shadow, but couldn't see anything until he turned one of the lights overlooking the village on and saw that there were indeed two people, running at top speed while looking straight ahead.

Jiro wanted to give a distress signal, but couldn't make a sound as a senbon was already lodged into his forehead and an invisible blade diced the wall below him.

Xxxx

"The walls are close," Naruto informed Haku.

"I can see it," the black haired girl said.

The two increased their speed, trying their hardest to get out of Otogakure as fast as possible until they were merely blurs, shadows that move like ghosts.

Once they were out of the walls, Naruto signaled Haku to move to a valley near the gate where a run-down shabby cabin resides. Although confused, the black haired girl complied and ran down to the wooden structure. Once inside, she inspected the layout of the cabin for anything that might endanger them.

"Over here," the living weapon told her. Haku walked to where Naruto was kneeling and found a very well hidden trap door under a desk that he had moved earlier.

The blonde boy opened the trap door, revealing a well dug tunnel, and told his female counterpart to go inside after he handed the large duffel bag he had carried up until now to her. The ice user followed command and waited for Naruto to come down soon afterwards.

"Where does this lead to?" Haku asked in wonder.

"This tunnel leads to another similar structure near Konoha," he explained. "Konohagakure had many of these built all over the world and it helps us to go back faster. But it does not mean you can put your guard down, enemies might find it harder to reach us, but if they come in numbers, there will be no escape for us."

"I understand," the girl said and gave back the big bag to the boy who accepted it.

Xxxx

_After a day of running in the tunnel_

Naruto and Haku had quite a difficulty running in the tunnel for many good reasons: 1. the air was damp, 2. it wasn't that big, 3. even though there are many food caches in every 100 yards, each were enough to last for a day's worth of travel, there wasn't quite enough water, and 4. there were no air conditioning that made the tunnel very, very hot.

Of course, given the fact that the tunnel itself wasn't so deep underground, Naruto could easily cut a slit on the ground above him, enough to refill the tunnel with air; but still, he couldn't do it everytime he wished to, it was dangerous enough thinking about the cave-ins that might occur if he does that every time it became uncomfortable.

Haku was fairing worse than the blond because her long hair disturbed her. Many times already she considered cutting it, but decided not to for some reason she couldn't remember and it was very irritating. Finally, she decided to just tie it in a high ponytail.

The two continued walking for several minutes before suddenly the bag Naruto had carried stirred and shook. Haku looked at Naruto who put the bag down and watched him as he opened the zipper on the bag, revealing Tayuya who turned out to be stuffed inside a duffel bag for one full day.

"Fucking hell!" the foul mouthed girl swore as she sat up after the bag was finally torn with a knife.

"Finally decided to grace us with your presence?" the ever smiling boy asked dryly.

"Fuck you, Konoha no Tsurugi," she replied with anger, trying to stand up and failed miserably.

"I see you still have enough energy to swear, that means you still have enough energy to walk. Come along now," Naruto said with his smile still in place as he carried Tayuya on his back and walked calmly.

"Put me down you asshole!" she cursed while flailing her limbs like a child throwing a tantrum.

"No," the living weapon said in a flat tone. "I just realized if I let you walk, you will just hinder us, so stay there like a good hostage and stay quiet."

Xxxx

_In Konoha_

Sandaime Hokage was looking over a rather important file concerning all his top employees, from genin's to ANBU, all their record was kept in a folder which resides in a steel drawer. The one he was looking at the moment was everyone who had something to do with Danzou, ex-Ne to be precise.

"I don't know what you were thinking of to drag me into this," the woman beside him said.

"Is that so?" the old man asked.

"Yes, and I don't know why I should check these files for any mental issues. We all know they're just like zombies anyway," she replied.

"Because, Tsunade, if we can find anything about emotion repression seals, we can turn Naruto back into a normal shinobi, not some super efficient machine. You owe him that much, at least," he said.

"If it even exists, for all I know, it could be some urban legend you cooked up." She said.

Finding no words of comeback, she looked away, stayed quiet and continued looking over the files, hoping to find something.

Xxxx

_Konoha's secret tunnel, approximately 75 kms away from Konoha_

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Naruto asked Haku as he walked beside her.

"No."

"Oh? You're the one who's usually strict about morals and the like," he pressed on.

"Hmm…"

"Morals are practically useless if it hinders the mission," the girl recited while keeping her head down.

"Good," the blond said as he ducked from a backhand fist from the woman on his back.

They continued along the trek for another thirty minutes before the tunnel was no more, only a ladder leading upstairs.

"Is that the end of the tunnel?" Haku asked seeing Naruto's nod, she felt slightly better. Finally, after so many days of no sun, she could feel the sun and breeze again.

xxxx

_Otogakure, Orochimaru's office, the same time_

"And you are telling me that you failed to find three children?" Orochimaru asked his shinobi coldly with his head propped on his fist.

"Please, forgive me Orochimaru-sama," he pleaded pathetically.

"Forgive you? Why should I do that? I gave you an order, you failed."

"But…"

"Enough of your pitiful begging, you worthless fool," the serpent sannin said mirthlessly. "If you're useless alive, perhaps you'll be slightly useful dead."

"No, please… . Give me a second chance, Orochimaru-sama. I beg of you," he begged before he screamed loudly. His scream echoed throughout the halls of his cave, but it was ignored by its denizens. They all knew what had happened and why, there was no room for failures and weaklings in Otogakure. If you can't earn anything, you get nothing.

Xxxx

_Konoha's secret tunnel exit, inside a wooden shack, 900 hrs_

Naruto heaved a bound Tayuya to the dusty wooden floor of the shabby cabin and held out his hand for Haku who accepted the hand and was immediately pulled up. They walked out of the wooden establishment and Haku sighed happily.

"It feels like ages since I've seen the sun," the girl said as she stretched her arms.

"We have to leave, now," Naruto said with finality in his voice.

"Why? What's wrong?" Haku asked back.

"'Cause this dipshit thinks it's not safe yet," Tayuya chimed in.

"Prisoners should act like prisoners," the living weapon said as he put a gag on the redhead's mouth. "But in any case, she's right. We're still not in Konoha's territory yet, so it'd be better if we go."

"Back to Konoha?" the ice user asked.

"Yes. After all, it's only a three hour walk from here," the blond replied.

Xxxx

_Konohagakure, two and a half hours later: 1130 hrs_

"Well, that was earlier than expected," Naruto said calmly to Haku and Tayuya, the former looked very tired, while the latter looked shocked.

"I'll go to the Hokage's office to give my report and prisoner, you should go home and take a rest if you can," he said to the black haired girl who nodded tiredly and went back to the apartment she shared with Naruto.

Xxxx

_Naruto's home, twenty minutes later_

"I'm home," Haku mumbled tiredly.

"Welcome back," Shizune replied sweetly as she put down a magazine she was reading earlier and walked towards the younger girl. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"No… thanks," she replied, "I'd rather get some sleep first. So… tired."

"Oh, ok then. Is Tsurugi-san…"

"He's at the Hokage's office for some debriefing and reports. Probably to hand over that Oto girl too," she continued as she dragged her feet to her room. "I'm off to sleep, Shizune-san."

"Ok, have a nice sleep," the medic nin said. "Oh, before I forget, what time do you want to be woken up, Haku-chan?"

Her question wasn't answered as the younger girl had already fallen asleep in her room.

Xxxx

_Hokage's office_

Naruto entered Sarutobi's office quickly through the window that had been opened and slowly set Tayuya down on her knees and made her kneel. "Mission completed, Hokage-sama," he said with a smile on his face.

"Hey, no greeting for me?" Tsunade asked as she emerged from a scroll library on the adjoining room.

"Hello, Tsunade-sama," he said with the same smile.

"Hello to you too, Naruto," she said slowly.

"Hmmm… haven't heard that name in a while. Any reason why you called me with that name?"

"Actually, there is, but I'm afraid it'll have to be explained later, Tsurugi," Sarutobi said with a dignified tone.

"As you wish, Hokage-sama," he replied.

"Whatever you say, Sensei," the buxom woman said offhandedly.

"Now then, what's your report?" the old man asked.

"The mission is complete, but primary mission objective was unable to be accomplished. Secondary mission objective is accomplished and I believe that the secondary mission objective is able to make up for the incomplete primary objective," Naruto said. 

"This person," he continued as he pointed to Tayuya. "Is one of Orochimaru's elite personel and I believe she can provide necessary information for us regarding his plan for Konoha."

"Is this merely an assumption or a proven fact?" the Sandaime asked.

"It is both, Hokage-sama. She had given us enough information to know of the outline of Otogakure which is accurate, but the rest is yet to be seen," Naruto replied. "However, if we were to acquire information regarding Orochimaru from her, we can at least prepare ourselves for something that might be true… or not."

"Hmmm, fair enough." The old man said. "Very well, Uzumaki Naruto, codename 'Tsurugi', receive your new mission."

"Your sword awaits your order." The blond said sahrply as he bowed his head.

"From now until the Chuunin exam, you are to gather as much information as you can from this girl. Do you accept?" the Hokage asked.

"Of course, sir."

"Hey! Don't go deciding things for yourselves, dammit!" Tayuya yelled as she managed to spit out the gag Naruto put inside her mouth.

"Unfortunately, you have no say in the matter." The living weapon replied as he reset the gag inside her mouth. "Now, let's go to your new home. By your leave, Hokage-sama."

**A.N.: **What do you think? Good? Bad? Regardless of your thoughts, it would be greatly appreciated (and encouraged) if you Read and Review. Thank you for your cooperation


	13. Chapter 12

**A.N.: **Yes, I know. Long update. Yes, I know that once again it looked like a filler chapter and I'm sorry. In any case, this chapter will contain the first appearences by the Sand siblings. Anyway, enjoy.

**Replies to the Reviewers**:

mupe3: thank you very much. I'll keep that in mind.

link2143: I don't know, got any ideas? I got one now, but I'm not sure it'll be good. Hell, I'll just try it.

Angel Is A Centerfold: sorry, the voting's over already.

Death's Leprechaun: The answer is: tsundere, you know; love starts with hate? that one. but everyone'll have different roles and scenes.

Libello: thank you. sorry for the long update.

EDelta88: the coward (Seki) will suffer in more ways than one. Haha

SineDei: ah, yeah. sorry about that I'll try to improve the story.

Narutomaniac: ah, yeah. I forgot that one. But do you realize what fear can do to you?

KitsuneOverlord: oh, there will. don't worry.

abcdefghijkLOL: sorry about that.

**Chapter 12: Duty and Indulgence**

Several weeks have passed since Tayuya came to 'live' in Naruto's home and she couldn't be any angrier. Everyday for those several weeks he would constantly ask her what she knew and eventhough she already told him everything, the blond still wouldn't believe her.

The red haired girl lived in a room right next to Haku's, a fact that made her slightly happy. The black haired girl was nice enough to her, as she constantly tried to make the living weapon 'less of an asshole'. But apparently the effort was wasted as he still was an asshole, at least he stopped asking her his stupid questions.

Another thing about the girl was this: for several times now had she heard sounds that seemed like moaning from her room that kept her awake for several hours in the night; each moan was usually the following sound to a creak or a thump.

'They're not fucking each other, are they?' she often asked herself whenever she heard that sound. 'Cause if they are, that's so fucked.'

'Today,' she vowed to herself. 'I'll ask those two if they're fucking.'

Xxxx

_Daybreak_

As per usual, Naruto knocked on her door before entering Tayuya's room. "Tayuya, are you awake?" he asked.

The question wasn't answered; instead sounds of shuffling and several crashes were heard.

"Yeah, I'm up," she groaned out. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Do you want to have a picnic?" he asked calmly.

"Do I have a choice?" the former Oto kunoichi asked.

"No."

"Then why bother asking?" she continued angrily. "Just get away from my door. I'll get changed."

It took the red head about 15 minutes to get changed into her usual attire during her stay in Konoha: a simple black yukata, courtesy of Shizune whom, out of the kindness of her heart lent the foulmouthed girl clothes.

When she got out of her room, she saw Haku, one of the more normal people in Naruto's apartment, reading a letter. She was smiling as she went through the piece of paper.

"Oi, Haku, what 'cha got in there?" Tayuya asked.

Hearing the sudden question, the black haired maiden hid the letter instinctively and said the most common answer. "Nothing."

"No, it's not nothing. C'mon, give a friend a clue."

"Seriously, it's nothing." She continued, trying to make sure her counterpart didn't see anything.

"Okay, okay. Fine. Wouldn't want anyone read that letter from your boyfriend. It's alright, really. I understand."

Haku blushed at the words, but before she could say anything, Tayuya had already snatched the letter.

"Too bad for you, I just don't give up!" she called out as she ran to her room once more, locking the door and began reading the letter.

"To Haku," she read aloud. "If you're reading this letter, that means I have been accepted into the Fire temple. Please do not worry, I am fine. If things go well, I'll be able to leave in a few months. Zabuza, now monk Doujou (mercy)"

"Huh, so her boyfriend ditched her to be a monk and she's happy? What kind of fucked up shit is this?" she mumbled to herself as she folded the letter and prepared to exit her room before an angered Haku kicked the door down.

"Give it back." she said slowly.

"Give what back?" Tayuya asked teasingly.

"Don't play dumb with me. Give the letter back!"

"And if I don't want to?"

"Then I'll make you give it back." the black haired girl said before she jumped towards the redhead, lunging at her stomach. Unfortunately for Haku, the former Oto kunoichi was able to dodge the attack and countered with one of her own. She dodged sideways and got behind Haku, and finally she kicked her straight on the ass.

Haku swore rather loudly in rage and forgetting every single self control quality she had in all her years, she threw a senbon at her, flying straight to her throat.

Tayuya who was gloating at the time didn't have the time to dodge. The needle flew closer and closer and before it could break skin, the projectile was caught by none other than Konoha no Tsurugi, Uzumaki Naruto.

"Were you two trying to kill each other?" he asked slowly as he removed his fox mask. Hearing no reply, he sighed in annoyance and asked again. "Well?"

"She started it," Haku said, pointing towards Tayuya.

"No I didn't." the other counter

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

"Enough!" Naruto roared in a rare angry voice. "I don't care. Tayuya, give Haku her letter back. Haku, apologize to Tayuya for nearly killing her."

"Here," Tayuya said, giving the crumpled piece of paper to Haku who snatched it away from her hand.

"Sorry," Haku said through gritted teeth.

"Now shut up and get moving." The blond ordered, which they did begrudgingly.

Xxxx

_Konoha's public park, noon_

"So," Tayuya began as she walked between Haku and Naruto, the former maintaining a silence to herself. "What possessed you into thinking up of a damn picnic?"

"Nothing." Naruto replied with his usual smile plastered on his face. "I just thought that it was a good day to have one."

"Cut the bullshit." She replied as she lifted him up by the scruff of his neck. "Tell me the truth, now."

"You're in no position to threaten me." The living weapon replied in calmly as he swatted her hand away.

"Bastard." She growled out. "I'll kill you!"

Red haired girl launched herself at the living weapon, fully intent on landing at least one punch on the maskless blond. But, before she could put her foot down for a step, Haku pulled her back and apologized to the blond on the former Oto kunoichi's behalf.

Naruto, for his part put a mask of indifference and walked off on his own, intent on finding a good place to sit and wait for the two girls. He had a feeling he shouldn't eavesdrop on them.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, bitch?" Tayuya whispered.

"Are you stupid? You, trying to kill him? You wouldn't even touch him if you try to do it like that." The black haired girl replied just as heatedly.

"If you got a better idea, I'm listening."

"That's not the point. Do you even realize anything weird about him?"

"Should I? I don't even like him that much to notice."

"Again, you're wrong. Don't you realize? He's starting to show emotions."

"And I suppose that's a good thing?"

"Think about it. The moment he had normal human emotions, the being known as Konoha no Tsurugi will cease to exist. He would be no more than a myth, replaced by an ordinary human that looked like him. In one way or another, he'll die, right?"

"Look, it's fine and all if you got the hots for him, but you're still not making any sense! What are you trying to say? That I don't have to kill him and he'll be extinct on his own like dino-fucking-saurs?"

"Yes, that's basically what I said. Besides, you can't do anything about him."

"And why the fuck is that? Because you'll step in way if I try to?"

"No. Because if I die, so will the two of you." Naruto said as he appeared between the two girls.

They were startled, but didn't shout out in surprise this time. Instead, they glared at him.

"But it's unimportant right now. We have been summoned. Let's go and fulfill them, shall we?"

Xxxx

_Hokage's office_

"Hokage-sama," Naruto and the girls greeted.

"Ah, Tsurugi, Haku, and Tayuya. Come in, come in." the old man beckoned them. "These are our guests from Sunagakure and there's something for you, Tsurugi."

Sarutobi then took out a scroll from a beautiful lacquer box and handed it to the living weapon.

"For your eyes only," he added, shooing the two other occupants of the room discreetly by asking them to get him something from the vending machine outside his office.

Receiving the piece of paper gratefully, the blond opened it and read the scroll quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone. After a few grunts and hmms, he finally rolled it back and returned it for the Hokage.

"I am very grateful for this honor, Hokage-sama."

"Honor, eh? Well, that's one way of putting it."

"Is there another?" he politely inquired.

"A bother is more like it, my boy." The old man said with a laugh. "Besides, this is big, not only were you engaged to someone from such a high ranking, you also get to be my personal bodyguard during the chuunin exams."

"But, how could it be a bother, Hokage-sama? By political marriage, our relationship with Suna might be strengthened and to be a bodyguard of the Hokage is a great honor."

"That's true, I guess, but wouldn't you like a chance to have a normal life any time in your life? Get a wife whom you love, live happily and carefreely, something like that?"

"No, someone like me…. Can't let our own wishes cloud our sense of duty. And… we can't help but forsake our own selfish desires for the good of many," the boy said sadly.

"Patriotic words, my boy." The old man said, impressed. "I am sure your parents would've been proud of you if they were alive."

The old man then pointed to another scroll inside the lacquer box, on it was written: 'To Naruto, my son.'

"I have no parents, sir. I am a sword, forged by battles and tested by the heavens. The forge where I am made is my mother's womb, and they who forged me is my father. Thus, they are my parents." He claimed as he threw the scroll to the air and shredded it.

Xxxx

"What are they talking about?" Haku whispered to Tayuya.

"I don't… I can't listen to anything. These guys either soundproofed the damn room or ain't talking at all." Tayuya whispered back.

"Ah, Haku-san, Tayuya-san. What are you doing here?" asked a chuunin lackey.

"None of your business!" the two of them shouted in surprise.

"Oh, ok then." He said in bewilderment. "But you might want to move a little bit, some people have business with the Hokage, you know."

Then, the door opened as Naruto exited, startling the two girls as they almost fell down, but quickly composed themselves and stood up straight again in no time.

"You two are still here?" the blond asked as he approached the two girls, but bumped on the way to someone. A boy who was wearing a black bodysuit with cat ears on his hood.

"Temari, tell me something." He started. "Is this the day to be impolite towards everyone? In just this day alone I've been bumped by two people. First was a brat and now it's this freak. What the hell?"

"Kankuro, I still think it's because you're not careful. Now shut up and don't even think of involving me in your monologue." A girl with 4 pigtails stated irritatedly.

"But…," the boy tried to defend his opinion, but was cut off by another member of their merry group, a psychotic looking redhead who looked like he could use some sleep.

"Shut up, Kankuro. This one's my prey. Mother has asked me to spill his blood!" the psychotic looking boy yelled as sand spilled around him.

"Gaara, please, calm down. Not now, ok?" a jounin said, trying to calm his student.

"And what'll you do if I don't calm down?" he asked menacingly.

"Look, amusing at this cheesy soap opera exchange shit, I'd like to get out of here, it's starting to get cramped." Tayuya said loudly in annoyance.

In their surprise, every newcomers moved to the side, allowing the fiery girl access to the exit, followed by her two companions; a blond boy and a black haired girl. Something told them that they would see more of those three.

**A.N.:...** None. Read and Review please.


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